The president of South Korea has issued a rare and deeply emotional apology for one of the most painful chapters in the country’s modern history: the state-backed foreign adoption programme that uprooted tens of thousands of children and sent them abroad, often under fraudulent circumstances.
In his statement, President Lee Jae-myung acknowledged the anxiety, pain, and lifelong confusion suffered by generations of adoptees who were separated from their birth families and communities in South Korea.
His apology comes seven months after an official Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the adoption system violated fundamental human rights and systematically concealed the truth about the children’s origins.
The scheme, which took shape in the aftermath of the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, was initially presented as a humanitarian measure. It was framed as a way to care for orphans and especially mixed-race children born to Korean women and foreign soldiers, children who were widely stigmatised in a society that prized ethnic homogeneity.
But over time, the programme grew into the largest pipeline of intercountry adoptions in the world, with more than 140,000 South Korean children sent overseas between 1955 and 1999.
Records reveal that many of them were not abandoned orphans, as officials had claimed, but were instead the children of single mothers, impoverished families, or victims of falsified paperwork that altered or erased their identities.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings were damning. After interviewing hundreds of adoptees and reviewing decades of documentation, the commission found evidence of systemic manipulation.
Children were wrongly labelled as abandoned, birth records were deliberately altered, and multiple cases of identity-switching were uncovered.
These practices severed ties between children and their biological families, making reunification nearly impossible. The commission concluded that the government bore direct responsibility for enabling and institutionalising these abuses.
President Lee said he carried a heavy heart in issuing his words of contrition. He extended comfort to adoptees spread across Europe, North America, and Australia, acknowledging the lifelong scars they carried.
The apology went beyond mere symbolism: Lee pledged to introduce stronger safeguards to protect the rights of adoptees today, ensure transparency in adoption records, and expand government support for those trying to reconnect with their birth families. He also urged officials to reform systems that still allow children to be sent abroad, even in the present decade.
Despite the sharp decline in intercountry adoptions compared to the past, more than 100 children a year—mostly babies born to unmarried women facing social stigma—continue to leave South Korea for new lives overseas.
The issue has long been a source of anger among the global South Korean adoptee community, many of whom have spent decades seeking answers about their origins.
Numerous personal testimonies describe the alienation and cultural dislocation of growing up in foreign countries, often in households that were unprepared to handle the complexities of cross-cultural identity.
Others recount the trauma of discovering, sometimes in adulthood, that their adoption records were falsified and that biological relatives had never willingly relinquished them.
This week’s apology marks only the second time a South Korean president has acknowledged the suffering of adoptees. In 1998, then-President Kim Dae-jung met with overseas adoptees and expressed sorrow for their hardships.
However, his remarks stopped short of recognising the state’s responsibility in orchestrating the system. By contrast, President Lee’s statement explicitly links the government to decades of malpractice, aligning with the commission’s official findings.
The apology also coincided with a major policy milestone: South Korea’s ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty designed to safeguard intercountry adoptions and prevent abuses.
The treaty, which took effect this week in South Korea after years of delay, establishes strict guidelines for transparency, consent, and child protection in adoption practices.
Activists and adoptee advocacy groups have long called for the treaty’s ratification, arguing it could provide stronger legal frameworks to prevent the injustices of the past from recurring.
Still, the apology raises new questions about accountability and restitution. Many adoptees have demanded not only recognition of their suffering but also concrete measures such as access to full records, legal pathways for dual citizenship, and reparations for the damages caused by fraudulent adoptions.
Some legal experts argue that the commission’s findings could lay the groundwork for lawsuits against agencies and government bodies that profited from or facilitated unlawful practices.
Domestically, the apology has sparked debate about how South Korean society has treated vulnerable populations. For decades, single mothers and their children bore the brunt of stigma, with adoption abroad often presented as the only viable solution for women facing ostracism and economic hardship.
Critics argue that rather than addressing the structural inequalities and prejudices that forced families apart, the government chose to export its most vulnerable citizens. By confronting this history publicly, Lee’s apology may open a broader conversation about gender, class, and inclusion in modern South Korea.
For adoptees, however, the apology represents both progress and an opportunity for healing. Many advocacy groups welcomed the president’s words, saying official recognition of state responsibility is an important step toward justice.
Yet they also stressed that reconciliation cannot end with an apology; it must be accompanied by systemic reforms and tangible support for those affected.
Reuniting families separated by decades of deception, ensuring access to authentic records, and acknowledging the diversity of adoptee experiences remain urgent priorities.
As South Korea reckons with its past, the president’s apology could signal a turning point. For too long, the voices of adoptees were sidelined, their experiences overshadowed by national narratives of progress and economic growth.
Today, their stories are at the centre of a reckoning that challenges the nation to confront painful truths. In recognising the human rights violations embedded within its adoption system, South Korea is beginning to address a legacy of loss, disconnection, and injustice that spans generations.
Whether the apology leads to meaningful transformation will depend on the political will to turn words into action, and on the persistence of adoptees who have long demanded to be heard.
