South Korea Formally Apologizes Over Foreign Adoptions Scheme 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung officially apologized Thursday for the government’s handling of foreign adoptions, months after the country’s truth commission held the state accountable for violating the human rights of adoptees, Al Jazeera reported. 

Lee said via Facebook he offered his “heartfelt apology and words of comfort” on behalf of the country to the thousands of children sent abroad, as well as their adoptive and birth families.  

He added that the government failed to prevent the fraud and abuses regarding adoptions, and asked officials to create systems to protect adoptees and assist in helping find their birth parents. 

The lucrative adoption scheme was set up as South Korea was struggling to recover from World War II and the Korean War. Starting in the 1950s, the country sent more than 200,000 babies to be adopted overseas. Scrutiny on the program, however, has been focused on adoptions during the 1970s and 1980s, when the scheme reached its peak under consecutive military regimes.  

The almost three-year-long investigation analyzed complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States, and Australia. It revealed that the country fabricated birth records, faked child abandonment notices, and failed to properly vet prospective adoptive parents. As a result, many children were removed or stolen from their birth families. 

The report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government was responsible for authorizing the adoption programs to lower welfare costs, and called on the government to formally apologize, Deutsche Welle noted. 

After years of delay, South Korea ratified the Hague Adoption Convention in July, which is the international treaty intended to safeguard international adoptions. It took effect in the country Wednesday.