Today is Korean American Day – this year, let’s explore Korea’s history of adoption.
The US has the largest population of Korean adoptees worldwide. While adoption is often framed as an act of charity, it is a global industry that grew out of war, profit, and anticommunism. 🧵
Starting in the 1880s, Western Christian missionaries primarily facilitated adoptions.
Adoption in Korea began as a project to remove “unwanted” children – those born to poor families, unwed mothers & sex workers. Many families were coerced into giving up their children.
The Korean War killed 3M Koreans & orphaned over 100K Korean children.
The US began encouraging American families to adopt Korean children – to protect and boost its image as a humanitarian savior and the leader of the “free world.”
Postwar south Korea did not have formal adoption laws or a social welfare system.
Instead, adoption was led by US Christian charity organizations like World Vision & Holt International. World Vision's founder once described his mission as a “battle for souls against communism.”
The south Korean and US govt also used the guise of humanitarianism to remove “unwanted” children.
These “unwanted” children included mixed-race children & their mothers – many of whom were sex workers and ostracized in south Korea, especially if the father was Black.
Many adoption agencies did not screen adoptive parents, motivated instead by the profits made through the transaction.
This kind of negligence is traumatizing and claims the lives of Korean children.
m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20…
Agency negligence also harms adult adoptees.
In 2015, Korean adoptee Adam Crapser was deported to south Korea at age 41. Abusive adopters had neglected to apply for his US citizenship. Adoptees are organizing against deportations + fighting for citizenship.
Over 200,000 Korean children have been adopted to other countries – largely to the US.
Most were adopted by white families and raised in white communities, severed from their people, culture, and history.
wgbh.org/news/2017/11/0…
Contrary to the image of the pitiful war orphan, Korean adoptees are political actors whose stories and activism provide critical analysis about the role of US imperial violence in Korean identity.
For decades, adoptees have called for an end to transnational adoption and more state support for single mothers and their children in south Korea.
Many have demanded investigations for falsifying birth records, swapping identities, and failing to screen adoptive parents.
The Korean adoption industry is a global industry that grew out of war, profit, and US anticommunism.
This Korean American Day, we hope that learning the history of Korean adoption inspires us to organize together for a world free of US imperial violence. Toojeng!
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