South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung issued a public apology on Thursday for the country’s mismanaged foreign adoption programs, which were marked by widespread fraud and human rights abuses.
The apology follows a Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and recent court rulings that exposed systemic failures in adoption practices, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, when thousands of children were sent abroad annually.
The adoption programs, initiated after the 1950-53 Korean War, were originally designed to remove mixed-race children from a society that prioritized ethnic homogeneity.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s March report, based on complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States, and Australia, found that the government facilitated adoptions through fraudulent means.
Many children were falsely documented as abandoned orphans, while others were removed from their birth families through questionable methods.
Between 1955 and 1999, over 140,000 children were adopted overseas, with adoptions continuing into the 2020s, often involving babies born to unmarried mothers facing social stigma.
President Lee expressed deep regret for the “anxiety, pain, and confusion” experienced by adoptees and directed officials to develop systems to protect adoptees’ human rights and assist in reuniting them with birth families.
South Korea’s ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention in July, effective as of Wednesday, marks a commitment to improving safeguards for international adoptions.
This follows years of delays and growing pressure to address the abuses, which were also highlighted in a 2024 investigation by the Associated Press and Frontline (PBS).
The investigation detailed how governments and adoption agencies collaborated to supply around 200,000 Korean children to foreign parents, often through unethical practices.
While former President Kim Dae-jung apologized in 1998, Lee’s apology is the first to explicitly acknowledge state responsibility.
The government’s actions signal a move toward reckoning with a painful chapter in South Korea’s history, as adoptees and their families seek closure and accountability.