SOUTH KOREA’S DEFECTIVE ADOPTION SYSTEM

Poverty-ridden South Korea was the world’s largest source of children for adoption.

It started with Korean women who wanted to give away the babies they had with Western soldiers – mostly American – during the Korean War in the 1950s.

However, the practice soon expanded to poor families, orphanages and unwed mothers as the business brought in millions of dollars in South Korea.

Foreign adoptions peaked in 1985, when nearly 9,000 children were sent abroad. These numbers gradually declined as the South Korean government promoted domestic adoption.

In total, around 200,000 babies have been sent abroad since the 1950s, but the circumstances under which they were allowed to be adopted have been questioned.

In recent years, there have been reports of newborns being kidnapped or taken by doctors who pretended to be dead or sick.

Amid heavy criticism for issues such as alleged falsified documents and human rights abuses, the adoption system will soon undergo drastic changes.

The government is due to implement reforms and take over the adoption process – currently managed by private agencies – next July. He promised that the new state-run system would protect children, promote domestic adoptions and reduce the number of children sent abroad.

Meanwhile, Ms Pennell, who has continued her search for her mother, has no intention of giving up.

“I just want to hold her. I just want to know that he’s okay and that it was hard for him, because I’m sure it was,” she said.