Korean adoptee 입양인

Korean word for adoptee is ibyang. News about South Korea and adoption. Mostly neutral, sometimes as Angry Korean Adoptee - but always supported by facts.

[Korean adoptee 입양인 @ibyang_in]

NCRC’s Funding of Adoptee NGOs (2020–2025): Incomplete Data, Ethical Concerns, and OKA/OKF’s Role

https://t.co/Y5VpiVABh9

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

State Responsibility for Overseas Adoption Acknowledged… But Individual Compensation Faces ‘High Wall’

- ‘Forged Overseas Adoption Documents’ Claim… Lost at First Instance, Now Appealed
- Violation Recognized but No Compensation… Proving ‘Mental Harm’ Remains Major Hurdle
- After State Responsibility Acknowledged… Adoptees Left to Fight in Court

https://t.co/pnHBoIRlHQ

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

The bad news: I lost the first-instance case against KSS (adoption agency).
The good news: The court explicitly admitted that #KSS broke the law.

Under the old Special Adoption Act Article 13, agencies were only allowed to register a child as "무적자" (no family register) or create a new family register (일가창립) if the child truly had no family record and met strict conditions.

For any adoptee who *thought* they had all of their adoption files:
Last year, I requested all my adoption files from NCRC (#아동권리보장원). They sent redacted versions of:
1. Power of attorney (위임장)
2. Adopted child’s records (입양아동조서)
3. Acceptance for overseas adoption (해외입양이민승락서)
…plus other documents I had never seen before.

In simple terms: these files contained *new* information about family (alleged!) consent (I fought this) and parts of my past I didn’t know. They are incredibly important for understanding my origins and finding closure.

The court granted my discovery motion and ordered NCRC to provide unredacted versions.
#NCRC then sent partly unredacted copies—still holding back some details.
Why these changes?

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Courts have increasingly held the Korean government accountable, recognizing these as acts of state violence despite the facilities being privately operated.

These cases highlight a pattern: the state delegated “welfare” or “protection” functions to private entities, funded them substantially, failed to supervise, and benefited from their operations — often under policies aimed at “social purification.”

The government has withdrawn appeals in dozens of cases, effectively accepting responsibility.

Courts emphasize funding, delegation, and supervisory failures.

Adoptees facing similar systemic harms can draw from these cases: the state cannot evade responsibility.

https://t.co/0swTZyyapJ

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Through FOIA requests to the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health and Welfare, she discovered all documents issued in her adoption process were falsified.

Even TRC confirmation of violations provides no direct path to state compensation.

https://t.co/ZXcE7Aw0uC

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

“Son I’ve Searched for Over 50 Years… No Way to Confirm If He Was Adopted Abroad” [Finding Lost Family]

Mother Jeon Gil-ja searching for son Lee Jung-hoon, missing since 1973

“If Jung-hoon is alive, he’s middle-aged now. Before I die, I want to meet him and tell him Mom never abandoned you.”

https://t.co/s2wJ9ngtZ3

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

UN Special Rapporteur: “Serious Concerns Over Korean Government’s ‘Human Rights Violations Against Overseas Adopted Children’”

[...] Kim Yu-ri, adopted in 1984 to a 51-year-old French guardian who violated adoption conditions, suffering physical, emotional, and s.exual abuse before escaping. Through FOIA requests, Kim discovered her name remained on family registers — meaning parental rights were not relinquished — yet she was adopted as an “orphan.”

https://t.co/ymBRiYUomQ

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Selling Children… The Ugly Truth of Overseas Adoption

In the 1970s–1980s, cases of non-orphans being sent abroad rose, becoming a social issue. Experts suggest agencies competed aggressively due to foreign currency earnings from adoptions.

An anonymous insider revealed agencies incentivized staff competition with performance bonuses for child procurement. Parents frantically searched for children unknowingly adopted abroad. Even those reunited late remain unresolved in grievance.

https://t.co/0sjK5dQUTk

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Yesterday a citizens’ group filed criminal charges against the former Health Minister + 6 officials for:

- Letting contractors scan blank pages for the adoption records database
- Hiding at least 300 million KRW in overpayments
- Leaving 200,000 of us without our roots

They called it “the first step to get our minimum right back.”
My civil case against KSS is moving forward exactly as planned.

https://t.co/hNcGeBHZAv

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Former #TRC2 Chair Park Sun-young blasted convicted lawyers profiting from victims.

- “Past-history clearing in Korea has become a ‘business’ for leftist lawyers and law firms”
- Cited the 2022 Supreme Court conviction of a #Minbyun lawyer who pocketed ₩2.47 billion in fees from 40+ state-compensation suits based on TRC findings
- Warned that launching TRC3 under the current Democratic Party bill will only prolong the “gravy train,” politicize history further, and *delay* real compensation for victims
- Strongly opposes extending the investigation period to 2001 (Kim Dae-jung era), calling it an attempt to rewrite history to the left’s taste

This is the strongest public attack yet from inside the TRC system itself on the “past-history industrial complex.” It directly undermines the moral high ground of TRC3 advocates and gives political ammunition to anyone (including judges) who wants to limit endless litigation and lawyer profiteering.

For my lawsuit: excellent news — it makes damages awards without endless new commissions look like the fair, victim-centered outcome, not “leftist business.”

https://t.co/ZIbX7lb9HS

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

#NCRC lied, people d.ied
Stop believing the "promises", prepare lawsuits for k.idnapping

The Korean government promised that once NCRC took over adoption records from the agencies, everything would become transparent and easier for adoptees.

Two years later, the truth is out:

- NCRC knows exactly where a seriously ill birth mother is living in a nursing home
- They sent three registered letters … and stopped there
- A “friend” signed for the letters — they never checked if the mother actually saw them
- They refuse to tell her son she is looking for him, or even confirm whether she is mentally/physically able to reply
- They say “we don’t have the staff” and “it’s too hard”

So the same agencies that forged our files for decades simply changed their name to NCRC and are still blocking reunions — now with full government funding and zero accountability.

Activists told me:

- “Once NCRC has the archives it will be easier” → lie
- “We can’t hold NCRC accountable”

This is not protection of privacy.
This is active obstruction paid for by taxpayers.
~250,000 Korean adoptees worldwide are still waiting for the truth they were promised.

https://t.co/nRAn4frFTo

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

NCRC’s “Frozen Warehouse” Scandal: Adoptees’ Roots in Storage Hell

The National Center for the Rights of the Child (아동권리보장원, NCRC) — now guardian of Korea’s adoption records — is under fire. During the October 28, 2025, National Assembly audit, lawmakers roasted Director Jeong Ik-joon for stashing sensitive files in a refrigerated warehouse in Goyang (559.6M KRW lease to 2030 / ~$407K USD). Think frozen meat lockers, not family histories.

NCRC: more like “No Child’s Roots Center”
Because freezing files is easier than facing fraud.

https://t.co/1EPgauCtMJ

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

OKA Funding Adoptee NGOs: $340K “Support” or Shell Game Hiding K.idnappings?

The Overseas Koreans Agency (#OKA) — MOFA’s (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) arm since replacing OKF in 2023 — poured $340,320 USD into #adoptee NGOs from 2023–2025. Sounds helpful? It’s a shell game. This cash funds dances, choirs, and camps — not reunions exposing an estimated 79,396 fraud cases (TRC 2025).

https://t.co/EzZr6W70LO

[Korean adoptee 입양인 @ibyang_in]

https://t.co/zCT5vpMLLY

[Korean adoptee 입양인 @ibyang_in]

NCRC’s Funding of Adoptee NGOs (2020–2025): Incomplete Data, Ethical Concerns, and OKA/OKF’s Role

https://t.co/Y5VpiVABh9

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

KAS / NCRC 2013-2019 funding data

NCRC Puts the “Fun” in Funding: Millions for “Allies,” Pennies for Truth and Reunions (2013–2019)

> Could instead have been invested in projects to facilitate reunions
> Are they afraid of reunions that will shed light on how many children were k.idnapped illegally?
> ESWS (ophanage / adoption agency) funded the IKAA gatherings in 2016 and 2019
> HOLT and KWS also got funding from NCRC
> Me&Korea constructed the Omma Poom memorial

https://t.co/j1M0LdYzsw

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

The Bitter Irony: #NCRC and Adoption Agencies Block Dying Adoptee Reunions While “Allies” Cheer Them On
https://t.co/3DtCHKNPkk

#아동권리보장원

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Victim of ‘Overseas Adoption,’ Kim Yuri, Applies for Compensation from Government: “State Must Propose Fair Amount” https://t.co/b4KAB8bM3q

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Seoul’s Jongno Police Station began investigating NCRC for alleged duty neglect and embezzlement https://t.co/ofLJiH3UvE

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

입양인 관점에서 본 보건복지부 및 아동권리보장원의 2024 입양실무매뉴얼 비판

https://t.co/uHUibOFJuf

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

미대사관과 아동권리보장원의 #헤이그 관련 우려 발생

2025년 7월 19일부터 한국의 새로운 입양법이 시행되면서, 한국과 미국 간 국제 입양에 중대한 변화가 예상되고 있습니다. 주한 #미국대사관 과 아동문제국(Office of Children’s Issues, 이하 OCI)은 한국 #보건복지부(MOHW)와 #아동권리보장원(NCRC)과 긴밀한 협의를 이어가고 있으며, 입양 절차 전환에 대한 여러 지침과 방향을 공유하고 있습니다. 하지만 이 과정에서 ‘입양 흐름 유지’가 핵심 우선순위로 작용하면서, 정작 입양인의 권리 보호가 소홀해질 수 있다는 우려가 커지고 있습니다.

https://t.co/Xl4OKkufcw

[JK Song / 송종근 @jongkeun]

Seoul Family Court’s July 3, 2025, seminar (법원행정처·가족법연구회) pushes Hague Convention, risking adoptee rights.

Professor Hyun stated: The primary principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] is the best interests of the child.

Yet participant Lee Sun-mi (Daejeon High Court Judge) also attended HCCH Asia Pacific Week Seoul 2025, raising suspicions of adoption industry bias.

Demand transparency, end ICA, and prioritize UNCRC!

https://t.co/eDdWCCzNzE