Han Tae-soon, a Korean mother, vividly recalls the last moment she saw her daughter Kyung-ha as a child in Seoul back in May 1975. Little did she know that this farewell would turn into a heart-wrenching separation lasting over four decades.
“I was going to the market and asked Kyung-ha, ‘Aren’t you coming?’ But she told me, ‘No, I’m going to play with my friends’,” recalled Ms Han.
Kyung-ha mysteriously disappeared from their home that day and resurfaced years later as Laurie Bender, an American woman living in California. The path that led Kyung-ha to Laurie Bender was filled with dark twists of alleged kidnapping, illegal adoption, and a web of deceit orchestrated by South Korea’s overseas adoption program.
Since its inception in the 1950s, South Korea has sent hundreds of thousands of children abroad for adoption – most notably to Western countries. However, recent revelations have exposed a troubling history of fraud, human trafficking, and illicit adoptions within this controversial program.
“In March [the inquiry] found that successive governments had committed human rights violations… allowing private agencies to ‘mass export’ children for profit on an industrial scale.”
Through heartbreaking accounts like Ms Han’s lawsuit against the South Korean government and several others coming forward with similar tales of loss and injustice, the true extent of the program’s atrocities is being brought to light. This reckoning could pave the way for justice and reparations for families torn apart by unethical adoption practices.
For Ms Han, the journey to find her daughter was marked by relentless determination and unwavering hope. Decades spent scouring police stations, orphanages, appearing on television appeals – all while grappling with uncertainty and false hopes – finally culminated in a breakthrough through DNA matching services.
“Ms Han met her daughter again at Seoul’s airport in 2019… As they embraced… Ms Han ran her fingers through Kyung-ha’s hair.”
The poignant reunion at Seoul’s airport between mother and daughter painted a picture of bittersweet closure mixed with lingering pain and regret. Both women trying to navigate their newfound bond amidst language barriers and lost time – highlighting the lasting scars left by decades-long separation.
As truths about South Korea’s adoption program continue to emerge – painting a grim picture of profiteering at the expense of vulnerable children – calls for accountability grow louder. Organizations advocating for adoptee rights underscore the urgent need for recognition of past wrongs and steps toward reconciliation.
“We are victims… This lack of documents must not make us victims for the second time,” said co-founder Han Boon-young.
While efforts are underway to reform adoption laws in South Korea towards more ethical practices under government oversight starting July this year onwards – scars from this dark chapter linger on. Families like Ms Han’s grapple with reconciling past traumas amid attempts at rekindling severed connections across oceans.
The story of Han Tae-soon’s tireless search embodies resilience against insurmountable odds but also serves as a stark reminder of lives forever altered by systemic failures within international adoption systems. In her pursuit for closure lies not only personal healing but also collective demands for justice long overdue.
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