I'm in Soul one of the most dynamic cities in Asia it's Ultra Modern yet deeply traditional when you think about what South Korea is known for around the world you think electronics cars K-pop music and food food but not so long ago one of this.
Country's biggest exports was children in the decades since the end of the Korean War 200,000 South Korean children have been adopted to North America Europe and Australia as adults many are making their way back I'm Nicholas green my name isang my name is my name is Peter M my name is Emma.
I'm Samara my name is Julian my name is Inu I was adopted from Korea to Massachusetts as years old they're trying to find their birth families this is my life it's my identity I've been looking for 20 years please give me the truth and connect with a country they've never really known the language has been challenging.
In the process Korean adoptees have been meeting each other comparing stories and some are discovering alarming patterns this is just a tiny bit of the evidence there are allegations of adoption documents falsified identities duplicated and even children stolen we were pretty much sold for a.
Profit human trafficking that's yeah that's absolutely what I think now hundreds of adoptees from around the world are demanding answers I think it's so important for people to know where do I come from we are adults and we have the right to know at the busy Guang Jang Market in.
The center of Soul Mary Bowers is just another face in the crowd and that's the way she likes it how do you find living here compared with the United States it's easier okay it's it's much easier coming back to Korea everybody looks like me like my entire body has relaxed Mary was adopted to America in 1982 as a baby in 2020 she wondered what.
It would be like to live in South Korea so she took the plunge and moved to Soul what's your favorite thing about career so far this sounds incredibly straight my my credit card what do you me that because because it it was the first thing that I had that had my name like my Korean name that was not an adoption paper it's.
Tangible so every time you use that credit card do you have a sense of this is me yes yeah until I get the bill and then I'm like I don't know if I'm I'm sure it's me anymore lots of flavor a little bit salty pretty crispy very good these are just stra Mary's adoptive parents were.
Told that her birth mother was too poor to raise her my adopted mother um she really thought she was doing something altruistic but once in Soul Mary tried to find out more information from her adoption agency and what she was told did not add up the story that my adopted.
Parents were given was completely false how do you know that um because in my adoption papers there's conflicting information so all of the the paperwork that was required by US immigration classifies me as an orphan no record of my parents but also in that same file in the English translation there are two people.
Identified as my parents Mary went to her adoption agency Eastern social Welfare Society several times for an explanation but they've never been able to provide one I thought that I had the pieces I really thought I had all the pieces so then to find out wait a minute none of that was.
Ever true not only do I have to undo a lot of the puzzle that I made now I have to find the pieces that actually belong there adoptions from South Korea began at the end of the Korean War following the Armistice in 19 53 the country's orphanages were full of thousands of War.
Orphans and babies fathered by Foreign soldiers Korea's leaders saw this as a social welfare problem and the children were sent abroad 12 orphans are leaving for adoption in the US their benefactor Harry H of Oregon interest surged after Harry and Bertha halt a Christian couple from the.
US adopted eight babies in 1955 the halts then set up what would become South Korea's largest adoption agency one often goes to a Corpus chrisy Texas Family another to a home in Benton Harbor Michigan in the following decades more agencies were set up and international adoption became a lucrative.
Business unwed mothers were shamed into handing over their newborns and poor families had little Choice adoption p in 1985 with an average of 24 children a day sent abroad the Turning Point came during the solar Olympics when the world's media took notice describing babies as.
Careers's primary export numbers have fallen most years ever since many people ask me why do you go to Korea I came here both for the birth search but uh mainly for the learning the Korean culture just to be here have.
A daily life on a Saturday morning on the outskirts of Saul Danish adopti and Anderson has come to her Korean drumming class an was adopted to Denmark as a 2-year-old in 1970 but moved back here a year ago what if I had stayed in Korea what kind of life would I have had and I.
Can see now that yeah this is maybe the kind of life I would have had of course I'm interested to find my Korean family because uh have a daughter and for her it's also very natural to know her Korean um ancestors I've come to find out how.
Anne's search is going she knows time is running out to find her family I'm 55 now so if my parents are at least 15 20 years older so they are at least in in their 70s of course I cannot wait 20 more years and even they might have passed already so yes time is running out and believes the answers are held with her adoption agency halt.
Children's Services how long have you been searching for your identity yeah so this may I have been searching 20 years my first travel to Korea was in 204 and I went to hold agency and they didn't give me any information how many times have you tried I went to the whole.
Office I think five or six times maybe seven and they always said your file is empty because my adoption files say no record for mother and father's name so they always just refer it's empty did they find me on the street if they did then the police should have made a lot of documentation if I was.
Relinquished then the father and mother should sign papers if this was a legal adoption they should have those documents but there's no paper so did the child just fall down from the heaven halt still has a large presence in South Korea an had pretty much given up on getting any more information out of her.
Adoption agency but she asked if we could try on her behalf one last time over the past three weeks I've sent them two letters and my Korean colleague has called them at least five times and we've had no response so I've got my letter again and we're going to try in person I don't have too high expectations but uh yeah I hope they.
Will uh show it to me but who knows let's see what happens inside staff won't show Anne her file today but say she can come back tomorrow they tell me I won't be allowed to join her because I'm a journalist and they won't do an interview that was very important that.
It should be today not tomorrow because tomorrow they will just take out the important stuff that's why we had to do it today I've been there six times before like this and they prepare exactly what they want to show no it's just a waste of time their time our time it's ridiculous you don't do anything for.
us the next morning we return to Halt for another go oh we talked for nearly 2 hours so she took the time what was to say nothing were you allowed to look at anything I could see my papers and then some of them were not the originals so I.
Said where are The Originals blah blah blah blah blah blah blah so they got lost or so this and we are so sorry she said that at least 20 times I'm so sorry she's not I said no you're not that's your work this is my life this is my story it's my identity I've been looking for 20 years please give me the.
Truth as adults many adoptees seek each other out at this Meetup there are adoptees from around the world it's an opportunity to connect and compare notes as they try to uncover their past Peter Müller was adopted to Denmark in.
1974 yeah the names are totally different totally different we will help you in any way we can pet has been Central to exposing careers adoption practices a couple of years ago each and everyone we were alone in the search for our documents coming together that makes us stronger and now we want to know the real background story.
Later I meet up with Peter outside Korea's National Assembly uh we often invited by politicians to come and give our view on on things I've been here I think 13 or 14 times many many people ask you have had good life in Denmark why don't you just say forget about the things and uh I.
Think I have had a good life in in Denmark but having a good life uh has nothing to do with the violations of your human rights after finding inconsistencies in his own adoption file Peter rallied other Danish adoptees to scrutinize theirs we collected all the stories and then we decided to go to the Truth and.
Reconciliation Commission in Korea and uh we made a formal complaint to the Commission in the hope that they would investigate the case they started with 51 Danish cases then word spread they eventually submitted 375 cases from adoptees in 11 countries in the Hills behind downtown Soul Peter Müller works from the offices.
Of adop D NGO coot he shows me the work they've been doing this is just a tiny bit of the evidence we have brought to the commission of the hundreds of cases Peter's now seen all are listed as orphans but the adop days question this they are both orphans and paper but their families biological families they.
Are described in the documents and that is a strange thing you can't be an orphan and have your parents described in your documents at the same time and in some cases here they' have even found uh their biological parents so when they reunite with their families they learn the truth and the next thing is the similarity all the documents all the.
Cases here they have exactly the same description in one city at least 52 children were given identical backstories they were abandoned with a note with their name and birth date this one too known by the paper SLI found in her clothing and here known by the paper her clothing that's a lot of missing.
Children with a paper slip in their clothing isn't it exactly so imagine that in the 1970s in Pan the street should literally be uh scattered with baskets with with Children what it actually tells us is that the agencies they use templates for stories there's also an admission from one adoption agency that at falsified.
Documents the adoption agency actually writes uh that everything was made up just for adoption so this document has been produced only to get the child overseas and we have multiple letters like these Peter says he feels deeply for adoptive parents who he thinks have been wronged too my mother she gets very sorry uh one.
Of the days she said to me uh Peter I want to say I'm sorry because I didn't know this say of course you didn't know this and this is not your fault this is made by greedy people who wanted money and and they were literally selling children uh by doing this which authorities would have seen these.
Documents before the child was adopted Ministry of Justice they have made all the official registrations of the children and then you have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs they stamp all the uh permissions to exit the country do you think governments right around the world would have been able to see these patterns yes uh if of yes definitely I.
Don't understand how a society can allow this for happening why didn't anyone say anything South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is tasked with investigating historical human rights violations in this country it's heard the adop's voices and has taken on their cases Amy Jong is lead investigator for the team looking into.
Adoptions have the adoption agencies been cooperating with you the commission has until next year to deliver its findings foreign correspondent made several requests for interviews with Halt and Eon but we received no responses the government said it's awaiting the commission's findings and has begun to.
Amend adoption laws it's not just adoptees affected there are also birth mothers searching for answers hun soon is one of them she's is a vocal advocate for birth.
Mothers and adoptees today my colleague Sue and I have been invited to lunch at her home 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 different dishes more more smells so good let's.
Go eating over lunch our conversation turns to family how many children do you have on May the 9th 1975 Hun's daughter disappeared from the front yard of their home how long did you look for her 44 years you never stopped looking she must have been so.
Scared she kept saying please look for my mother and they said that you abandoned they finally reunited in 2019 thanks to a DNA match the agency that handled the adoption was halt hunon is now taking legal action.
Against Halt and the government an has also tried DNA testing but has only found distant relatives today we're joining her as she tries something new an appeal on a Korean radio show I hope that somebody from my family will recognize me I'll recognize my.
Story I know and is going on the air with Professor E gonu A former missing person's unit detective who's taking a look at her case the only thing we can rely on is DNA so we need the Koreans to make DNA test because we cannot rely on the papers we cannot rely on the.
Agencies but her strongest message is for her family I would like to say to them that I'm I'm I'm sad that I was sent abroad to Denmark but I'm not angry but uh I don't know if they gave me up or if I was kidnapped or I don't know my story so I think it's it's heartbreaking not to be 50 years and not.
Know to me coming to Korea was about finding the things that do actually matter that are important which is you know family and truth and identity and so even though it's been an adjustment it's it's been worth it so far to find other people who have had similar experiences and to have my.
Experience validated as wait this happened to me too you're not losing your mind you're not going crazy like this is something that was pervasive with no answers coming from her agency Easton Mary turned to DNA as well she did seven different tests as exhausting as that process has been it's it's.
Been worth it so far because so um after all of that um I found my my baby brother the DNA testing LED you to a brother a 100% DNA match so we are not half.
Siblings we have exactly the same parents um yeah hey Chase was also adopted to America as a baby they met over a video call last year and now chat regularly what have you been up to how's work been playing some online games with friends Che this out I got the side by.
Sides but they rotate they've compared documents and found even more discrepancies his story we know is 100% false or I would not exist the story his adoptive parents were given was that um he was abandoned also by a single mother um who did not even know who our father was she apparently went to a bar according to his.
Documents I am 23 years older than my brother that is a very long one night stand it's not it's not possible what's your theory I think maybe initially uh the years immediately after the Korean War there may have been humanitarian need for children to find families But as time went on the.
Adoption agencies found there was significant money that people were willing to pay to adopt a child and so um we were pretty much sold for a profit human trafficking that's yeah that's absolutely what I think yes next year the South Korean governments expected to ratify an.
International Convention on intercountry adoption which makes the practice a last resort any cases would be managed by government not private adoption agencies adoptee Advocates hope the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will lead to more change I would hope to see historical.
Acknowledgment of what happened an official apology from the government and then some kind of restitution for what happened there a strong feeling among adops in Denmark all over the world that now we are adults uh so we will try to do for Korean children today uh what no one did for us so I hope that the commission.
Investigation will lead to a stop for adoptions from South Korea as the adoptees here wait for the commission's findings they're getting on with their lives Mary and fellow adopt Dean Nick are enjoying a perfect Sunday in Soul chicken and beer by the Han River it is.
A little hot which is weird we've had so much strange like back and forth weather so this sayle the adop D Community here is growing and momentum for their cause is building for me I think uh I'm more of a latecomer to the game so I moved here eight or N9 months ago and I know that there have been adops I've lived here.
For a few till like even up to 10 or 15 years yeah it's definitely been a roller coaster like I have good days where it's like I feel like I have I've learned a lot and I've made lots of connections and I feel pretty great um there's also days where I'm just like flat on the floor I can't breathe I can't move I can't handle anything and it's a thing.
But if every day and every new piece of information is one step closer to completing the puzzle so yeah your brother that's that's exciting I'm excited for you it's a big thing I'm going to meet him in person in June for the first time and his favorite food is fried chicken and I was like I like he's definitely mine.
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