South Korea's Truth Commission Confirms Government Responsibility for Human Rights Abuses in Intercountry Adoptions

South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported in March 2025 that the government bears significant responsibility for widespread fraud, malpractice, and human rights abuses in its intercountry adoption program, especially during its peak in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Following a nearly three-year investigation based on 367 adoptee complaints, the commission found systemic failures, including inadequate legal frameworks, poor oversight, and agencies colluding to export children, often falsifying identities (labeling children with relatives as orphans) and bypassing parental consent, driven partly by economic motives. Recommendations include a government apology, remedies for victims, ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention, and investigating citizenship issues for adoptees sent abroad. Some adoptees felt the report didn't go far enough in establishing government complicity.

Source: Aljazeera