[Straight]〈Adoption and State Violence②〉Adopted Children Left Behind and Records Disappeared
[Kim Yu-ri/Overseas Adoption Victim]
“I can’t accept this. Please… We are victims of the state.”
Ultimately, the fact that adoption records could not be found is what hindered the investigation into the truth.
[Peter Muller/Co-representative of the Danish Korean Truth Finding Group (DKRG) - Jeong Yeong-hun/Director of Investigation Department 2, Truth and Reconciliation Commission]
“The fact that there are no records is a violation of human rights. The fact that we cannot know the stories of our pasts is in itself a violation of our rights.” Only
56 people have been officially recognized as victims of overseas adoption.
In addition to the 42 people for whom the investigation into the truth was suspended, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to suspend the investigation into 269 people, for a total of 311 people.
The reasons were a lack of materials and a lack of time.
[Noh Hye-ryeon/Professor Emeritus, Department of Social Welfare, Soongsil University]
“(If they don’t admit to being victims because there is no information) those who don’t know their real background and don’t know their parents and are suffering are saying, ‘You weren’t even harmed. ’”
Norway, which was an ‘import country’ for Korean adoptees, conducted a fact-finding investigation in Korea last month.
[Camilla Berndt/Chairperson of the Norwegian Overseas Adoption Investigation Committee]
“The purpose of our investigation is to determine whether the Norwegian authorities have sufficiently controlled international adoptions and whether there have been any illegal or inappropriate practices.”
Denmark has decided to conduct a large-scale investigation at the parliamentary level.
[Peter Muller/Co-Chairperson, Danish Korean Truth Investigation Group (DKRG)]
“The important thing about the Danish investigation is actually imposing legal responsibility. The Danish parliament is trying to find out how this happened and who is responsible.”
However, the investigation into the truth about overseas adoption in Korea is likely to end like this unless the third Truth Commission is launched.
[Park Geon-tae/Truth and Reconciliation Commission Investigation Team Leader]
"As you can see from the overall poor record management, I think at the time, they probably thought, 'Once a child is adopted, it's over, there's no need to look for them again.'"
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For adoptees, records, which are like an 'umbilical cord', are also a compass on the road to finding their identity.
[Han Bun-young/Co-CEO of the Danish Korean Truth Finding Group (DKRG)]
"Where is there a person who doesn't know where they came from? Where is there a person who doesn't know their mother, father, and siblings? It's so basic. Without this (adoption record), we don't exist. This is the beginning of our lives."
The damage caused by lost records continues across generations.
Marit Kim, who visited her mother's hometown after her mother took her own life due to the pain of adoption.
[Marit Kim van der Stey/Second-generation overseas adoptee]
"When I first went to Gwangju (her mother's hometown), it felt really special. I was so fascinated by the faces of the people. I thought, 'Gwangju people seem to have rounder faces, and their lips look like my mother's.' It was so sad, but it felt like a small gift to be able to see someone who looked like my mother."
However, even finding her mother's mother, her maternal grandmother, was very difficult.
[Marit Kim van der Stey/Second-generation overseas adoptee]
"But I'm a part of my mom. I don't know why I can't access my family papers. I asked the Child Rights Commission if I could get a DNA test, but they said no because I'm not an adoptee or a missing child. Maybe my grandmother is still looking for my mom and wants to know more about her."
The second-generation adoptees Straight spoke to described this experience as one of sadness, loss, and emptiness.
[Bastian Flickweirt (Shin Seo-bin)/Second generation overseas adoptee - Melanie Steiner/Second generation overseas adoptee]
"There are barriers on so many levels, culturally, linguistically, and legally. There are already such barriers simply because we are adoptees, and we are even further down. You feel like you can't approach it, and there is an emptiness in your heart that is too hard to explain. <To me, it feels like a silent sadness. It feels like sadness.> About something you've lost... <Not only did you lose your family, but you also lost your culture, your country, and your language. When I met other adoptees and adoptee children, this emptiness suddenly disappeared, and I felt a sense of light and connection, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I'm not alone, I'm not crazy.' This is what it means to be alive. This is what it feels like to have roots. Other people must have felt this way their whole lives.>
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Moreover, adoption records are directly related to life.
Mathieu Christmas, who was adopted to France at 5 months old. He
has suffered from severe insomnia since last year and is now suffering from tinnitus and muscle I'm experiencing convulsions and hallucinations.
I desperately need information from my biological parents to find out if it's a hereditary disease.
The Special Adoption Act also states that adoption information can be disclosed regardless of the consent of the biological parents in special cases, such as for medical purposes.
[Mathieu Christmas/Overseas Adoption Victim (YouTube 'Mongsaem Bookstore', December 13, 2024)]
"I just want to find out if there was a case of fatal insomnia or a hereditary sleep disorder within that family."
However, the Child Rights Protection Center, which manages adoption information, is not disclosing the information, saying it has not yet received parental consent.
[Bae Jin-si/Director of Montaigne Overseas Adoption Solidarity]
"Is the Personal Information Protection Act more important than human life and the child's human rights? It's not like we can't find our parents. They're alive and well, and I know where they are living. But I don't know if it really makes sense that they can't give me that information."
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So how are the records of victims of overseas adoption managed?
The Child Rights Protection Center once entrusted an outside company with the task of computerizing the adoption records of 86 childcare facilities for 10 years from 2013.
The result was a mess.
The birth mother's address was written completely differently, from Jeollanam-do to Seoul, and even the child's gender was wrong.
A large number of cases were found where the names and contact information of the birth parents were written incorrectly or omitted.
Important records before adoption were damaged, and because they were not even properly inspected, half of the scanned data in 2020 and 2021 were blank.
They didn't even know that the external hard drive containing the original files was lost.
[Kim Nam-hee/Democratic Party of Korea - Jeong Ik-joong/Director of the Child Rights Protection Center (National Assembly Welfare Committee, October 21, 2024)]
"<So there's an external hard drive?> I understand that there is an external hard drive."
[Jeong Ik-joong/Director of the Child Rights Protection Center (National Assembly Welfare Committee, October 21, 2024)]
"I apologize for speaking too definitively about the loss of data. I would like to ask for a correction once again."
Internal document of the Child Rights Protection Center obtained by Straight Team. It states
that the original data is 50% more than what has been computerized, but it is not possible to identify which data has been scanned.
In the end, we concluded that we had to start the computerization process again from the beginning.
[Child Rights Protection Center employee]
"The data we have now is unreliable. When adoptees request disclosure of their current information, I honestly cannot guarantee whether or not the data will be correct."
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In addition, starting in July of this year, all adoption records from four adoption agencies, including Holt, will be transferred to the Child Rights Protection Agency.
A plan was made to build an archive on 25,000 square meters of state-owned land in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, and the director of the Child Rights Protection Agency visited the site, but the plan has been put on hold indefinitely.
[Gimpo City official]
"It seems that the Child Rights Protection Agency is still in the process of preparing internally. We are waiting."
When asked why it was put on hold, the Child Rights Protection Agency explained, "It was not something that the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and the Child Rights Protection Agency agreed on, and the article at the time was not an official position."
We also visited a place that was supposed to be used as a temporary storage facility until the archives were built.
It was a warehouse in Gyeonggi-do, a remote place that would be inconvenient for adoptees to visit.
[Warehouse official]
"<What was it originally used for? The building itself?> It was a cold storage. (The Child Rights Protection Center) would come and look at the 2nd floor, the 4th floor, the 5th floor, etc...."
In a place where the entire building was used as a cold storage, questions about whether old documents can be stored are bound to arise.
[Child Rights Protection Center employee]
"The place we are trying to move to (as a temporary storage facility) has a cold storage on the lower floor, so the temperature is very low. So in order to maintain the temperature and humidity there, a lot of equipment will have to be brought in, and we are worried about whether it will work or not."
However, the Child Rights Protection Center explained, "It meets the load capacity standards, has sufficient area, and is relatively close to the city center, so we consider it the best candidate."
[Lee Kyung-eun/Representative of Human Rights Beyond Borders]
"All of these issues ultimately converge on the right of 200,000 (international adoptees) to know their own identity, their own roots, and their true identity, so there is a very long way to go to guarantee those human rights."
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