South Korea Shuts Down Private Adoption Agencies After Rights Scandal, Launches State-Run System

South Korea is set to overhaul its decades-old international adoption system by ending the use of private agencies, following a government investigation that revealed widespread human rights violations committed over decades under state-sanctioned adoption policies.

Starting Saturday, the country will roll out a fully public adoption system, under which the government will oversee and manage the entire adoption process — a dramatic shift from the previous model that relied on private agencies with minimal state oversight.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the new structure marks a “significant step towards ensuring the safety and promoting the rights of adopted children.” All major adoption procedures — from vetting potential adoptive parents to matching children with families — will now be handled by a state-run committee operating under the principle of “the best interests of the child.”

This reform follows the findings of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which earlier this year concluded that the country’s adoption industry had been rife with misconduct. Investigators uncovered “fraudulent orphan registrations, identity tampering, and inadequate vetting of adoptive parents” — all allowed to flourish due to weak regulation and lack of accountability.

Since the aftermath of the Korean War (1950–53), more than 140,000 Korean children were sent abroad for adoption, many under questionable circumstances. What began as a humanitarian effort evolved into a multimillion-dollar international industry by the 1970s and 1980s, with critics accusing the government of turning a blind eye to abuses in favor of economic expediency.

“With this restructuring of the public adoption system, the state now takes full responsibility for ensuring the safety and rights of all adopted children,” said Kim Sang-hee, director of population and child policy at the Health Ministry.

But for many adoptee rights advocates, this is just the beginning.

“While I think it’s high time that Korea shut down all private adoption agencies, I don’t believe having the state handle new adoptions is enough,” said Lisa Wool-Rim Sjoblom, a Korean adoptee and writer based in Sweden. “The government urgently needs to acknowledge all the human rights violations it enabled, encouraged, and systematically participated in — and, as soon as possible, begin reparations.”

Sjoblom and other advocates are now calling on the government to issue a formal apology, implement the full set of recommendations from the truth commission, and support thousands of adoptees overseas still searching for answers and recognition.

Source: Al Jazeera,