World

South Korea, World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter,’ Admits to Adoption Fraud

Published

7 months ago

March 26, 2025

South Korea, World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter,’ Admits to Adoption Fraud

South Korea on Wednesday admitted for the first time that in its rush to send children to American and European homes decades ago, its adoption agencies committed widespread malpractices, including falsifying documents, to make them more adoptable.

The findings by South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a government agency, which said children were sent away “like luggage” for profit decades ago, were a hard-won victory for South Korean adoptees abroad. Many adoptees have returned to their birth country in recent years, campaigning tirelessly for South Korea to come to terms with one of the most shameful legacies of its modern history.

Adoption agencies falsified documents to present babies as orphans when they had known parents, the commission acknowledged. When some babies died before they were flown overseas, other babies were sent in their names. The heads of four private adoption agencies were given the power to become legal guardians for the children, signing them away for overseas adoption.

The commission’s report was the government’s first official admission of problems with the country’s adoption practices, including the lack of oversight, even though such malpractice had been exposed in the past. The agency recommended that the state apologize for violating the rights of South Korean adoptees.

South Korea is the source of the world’s largest diaspora of intercountry adoptees, with around 200,000 South Korean children sent abroad since the end of the Korean War in 1953, mostly to the United States and Europe.

In its destitute postwar decades, South Korea promoted overseas adoptions to find homes for orphaned, abandoned or disabled children abroad rather than build a welfare system for them at home. The government left it to the adoption agencies to find and ship children abroad for fees from adoptive families.

“Numerous legal and policy shortcomings emerged,” said Sun-young Park, the chairwoman of the commission. “These violations should never have occurred.”

The findings carry repercussions beyond South Korea, as several receiving countries — including Norway and Denmark — have opened investigations into their international adoptions. The United States, which has received more children from South Korea than any other country, has not done so.

“This is a moment we have fought to achieve: the commission’s decision acknowledges what we adoptees have known for so long — that the deceit, fraud, and issues within the Korean adoption process cannot remain hidden,” said Peter Moller, a South Korean adoptee from Denmark who led an international campaign for the commission to launch an investigation.

The commission identified many cases where the identities and family information of children were “lost, falsified or fabricated” and where children were sent abroad without legal consent.

It cited the case of a baby girl it identified only by her last name, Chang, who was born in Seoul in 1974. Her adoption agency in Seoul knew her mother’s identity. But in the documents it sent to her adoptive family in Denmark, the agency said the girl came from an orphanage.

That agency, Korea Social Service, charged a $1,500 adoption fee, as well as a $400 donation, per child from adoptive families in 1988, the commission said. (South Korea’s per-capita national income that year was $4,571.) Some of these funds were in turn used to secure more children, turning intercountry adoptions into “a profit-driven industry,” the commission said.

South Korea’s export of babies peaked in the 1980s, with as many as 8,837 children shipped abroad in 1985. Children were “sent abroad like luggage,” the commission said, presenting a photo that showed rows of infants and young children strapped to airplane seats.

“While this is not news to us adoptees, it is a significant victory in the sense that we are finally receiving acknowledgment of what has happened to us over the years,” said Anja Pedersen, who was sent to Denmark in 1976 under the name of another girl, who had died while waiting for adoption.

The truth commission does not have the power to prosecute any of the adoption agencies, but the government is required by law to follow its recommendations.

The adoption agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Since the commission launched its investigation in late 2022, some 367 overseas adoptees have asked it to investigate their cases, a majority of them from Denmark. On Wednesday, the commission recognized 56 of them as victims of human rights violations. It was still investigating the other cases.

Mia Lee Sorensen, a South Korean adoptee who was sent to Denmark in 1987, said the commission’s findings provided the “validation” that she had been seeking. When she found her birth parents in South Korea in 2022, they couldn’t believe she was alive. They told her that her mother had passed out during labor and that when she woke up, the clinic told her that the baby had died.

Those whose cases weren’t recognized among the victims on Wednesday expressed hope that the commission would be extended to carry out more investigations.

Mary Bowers, who was adopted by a family in Colorado in 1982, was still waiting for answers to many inconsistencies in her adoption papers.

“This is only the beginning,” Ms. Bowers said.

Related Topics:adoptions Babies and Infants Corruption (Institutional)Featured politics and government south korea

Click to comment

World

Two dead as Typhoon Kalmaegi brings massive flooding in central Philippines

Published

14 minutes ago

November 4, 2025

Press Room

Two dead as Typhoon Kalmaegi brings massive flooding in central Philippines

Residents seek refuge on rooftops, and cars float through flooded streets on the island of Cebu.

Published On 4 Nov 2025

Rain-soaked residents sought refuge on rooftops, and cars floated through flooded streets as Typhoon Kalmaegi battered central Philippines, killing at least two people, according to the national disaster agency and media reports.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the powerful storm across the Visayas region as well as parts of southern Luzon and northern Mindanao, as Kalmaegi made landfall shortly before midnight.

Map: 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan

Published

16 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Press Room

Map: 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan

Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. All times on the map are Afghanistan time. The New York Times

A strong, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in Afghanistan on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. Follow our coverage here.

The temblor happened at 12:59 a.m. Afghanistan time about 20 miles southeast of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, data from the agency shows.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Afghanistan time. Shake data is as of Sunday, Nov. 2 at 4:01 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, Nov. 3 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

Maps: Daylight (urban areas); MapLibre (map rendering); Natural Earth (roads, labels, terrain); Protomaps (map tiles)

World

Mexican mayor who took hard line against drug gangs shot and killed at Day of the Dead event

Published

17 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Press Room

Mexican mayor who took hard line against drug gangs shot and killed at Day of the Dead event

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A Mexican mayor who was outspoken in his opposition to drug cartels and pushed for hardline laws against trafficking was killed in a shooting at a Day of the Dead celebration this weekend.

Before his death, Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo had been critical of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for what he saw as a lack of effort in combating cartels. His city lies in Michoacán State, which suffers from particularly high levels of cartel violence.

“We need greater determination from the president of Mexico,” Manzo told local media in September, vowing not to take “a single step back.”

“I do not want to be just another mayor on the list of those who have been executed and had their lives taken away from them,” he continued. “I am very afraid, but I must face it with courage.”

FAMILY MEMBER OF INFANTS BURNED ALIVE BY CARTEL THANKS TRUMP FOR CRACKDOWN: ‘HOPEFUL FOR THE FIRST TIME’

Carlos Manzo, Uruapan’s mayor and one of the few independent politicians elected to office in Mexico, attends a candlelight Day of the Dead festival in Uruapan, Michoacan State, Mexico, shortly before he was shot, resulting in his death, Nov. 1, 2025, in this screengrab taken from a live video streamed by his team and obtained from social media. (Carlos Manzo via Facebook/Handout via REUTERS)

State officials say Manzo was shot seven times on Saturday night during a Day of the Dead vigil. He died of his wounds in a nearby hospital.

COAST GUARD NABS 50 TONS OF COCAINE BOUND FOR POSH COASTAL ENCLAVES AS CARTEL OPS ‘RIVAL AMAZON’: EXPERT

Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced an investigation into Manzo’s killing on Sunday.

Family and friends attend the funeral of Carlos Manzo, the mayor who was shot dead during a Day of the Dead event, in Uruapan, Mexico, Nov. 2, 2025. (REUTERS/Ivan Arias)

“We send our deepest condolences to his family, loved ones and the residents of Uruapan, who today are experiencing a painful and unjust loss at the hands of organized crime,” Harfuch said at a press conference. “There will be no impunity.”

Authorities said Manzo’s security was extensive, comprised of officers handpicked by Manzo as well as 14 National Guard members.

Funeral procession for Carlos Manzo, Uruapan's mayor

A person holds a picture of Carlos Manzo, the mayor who was shot dead during a Day of the Dead event, in Uruapan, Mexico, Nov. 2, 2025. (REUTERS/Ivan Arias)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Manzo’s aggressive approach to crime earned him the moniker “Mexican Bukele,” referring to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has led a massive crackdown on gang violence in his country. According to the New York Times, Manzo had been critical of Sheinbaum’s approach to cartel issues since her inauguration in October 2024.

“If she thinks she’s going to detain these criminals without a single shot fired and that they’ll just turn themselves in, well, she should get it done,” Manzo said in a May speech, referring to Sheinbaum. “And believe me, if she manages to do that, I will immediately submit my resignation.”

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.