South Korea Restarts Investigation Into International Adoption Fraud

South Korea has launched a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate widespread fraud in its international adoption program that sent thousands of children to Western countries. The commission will examine cases involving Korean adoptees, including many from the United States who were underrepresented in previous investigations.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A new Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun operations in South Korea, with investigators focusing heavily on fraudulent practices that plagued the country’s international adoption system for decades.

This marks the third such commission in South Korea’s history, which started accepting cases on Thursday. The previous commission concluded its work in November, leaving over 2,100 complaints without resolution.

The newly formed panel will take on these outstanding cases, including 311 submissions from Korean adoptees living in Western nations. These cases were either postponed or given incomplete reviews when the second commission ended its groundbreaking adoption investigation in April of last year, after internal disagreements arose about which cases deserved recognition as problematic.

Adoption advocacy groups report significantly greater interest from adoptees this time around, with hundreds already requesting investigations. Many of these requests come from the United States, a group that was underrepresented in the prior inquiry despite American families being the primary recipients of Korean children throughout the past seventy years.

However, former investigators from the earlier commission warn that actual investigations may not begin for several months, potentially stretching into May or June. The government has not yet named a chairperson for the commission, which lacks organized investigative teams and will initially operate under civil servants responsible for receiving and cataloging cases.

The current commission operates under expanded authority granted by legislation passed in January, allowing it to examine additional government-linked human rights violations. These include civilian deaths during the Korean War period from 1950-53, suppression under military rule from the 1960s through 1980s, and long-term mistreatment of individuals in welfare institutions.

During its peak years, South Korea facilitated the placement of thousands of children annually with Western families, beginning in the 1970s and continuing into the early 2000s. The 1980s saw the highest numbers, averaging over 6,000 children per year. At that time, the nation operated under military leadership that viewed population expansion as detrimental to economic objectives, using international adoptions as a method to decrease domestic welfare obligations. This practice contributed to creating what may be the world’s largest population of international adoptees.

The previous adoption investigation was suspended in 2025 after nearly three years of case reviews spanning Europe, the United States, and Australia. During this period, the second commission validated human rights violations in only 56 out of 367 adoptee complaints.

Despite the limited number of confirmed cases, the commission produced an important preliminary report establishing government accountability for an international adoption system characterized by fraudulent practices and abuse. The report concluded that the program was motivated by cost-cutting measures and executed by private organizations that frequently falsified children’s histories and backgrounds.

This report contradicted the long-held belief in both South Korea and receiving Western countries that adoptions were primarily humanitarian efforts. The findings supported earlier investigative work conducted by The Associated Press.

The AP’s investigations, conducted in partnership with Frontline (PBS), utilized thousands of documents and numerous interviews to demonstrate how South Korean officials, Western governments, and adoption agencies collaborated to place approximately 200,000 Korean children with overseas families, despite ongoing evidence of corrupt and illegal procurement methods.