South Korea Ends Private Adoptions in Sweeping Reform of System Riddled with Abuse

South Korea will on Saturday implement a major reform of its adoption system, officially ending the longstanding practice of outsourcing adoptions to private agencies — a system widely criticised for enabling abuse, fraud, and human rights violations.

Between 1955 and 1999, South Korea — now Asia’s fourth-largest economy — sent more than 140,000 children overseas. A government-backed investigation released earlier this year concluded that the process was marred by severe irregularities, including “fraudulent orphan registrations, identity tampering, and inadequate vetting of adoptive parents”.

The truth commission behind the probe found that the rights of South Korean children had been systematically violated and placed the blame squarely on the government for failing to regulate adoption fees, which turned the practice into a profit-driven industry.

In response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that from Saturday, a “newly restructured public adoption system” will come into force. The new model transfers full responsibility for the adoption process to the state and local governments.

The ministry called the move a “significant step towards ensuring the safety and promoting the rights of adopted children”.

International adoptions from South Korea began in the aftermath of the Korean War, primarily to remove mixed-race children born to Korean women and American soldiers, reflecting a societal push for ethnic homogeneity. By the 1970s and 1980s, adoption had evolved into a booming global business, generating millions of dollars for international agencies as South Korea pursued rapid economic development.

However, the system often failed those it was supposed to protect. In its March report, the commission criticised authorities for neglecting proper legal procedures, resulting in numerous birth parents losing their children without informed consent. These practices contributed to heartbreaking stories of children separated from families and sent abroad under false pretences.

“This is a shameful part of South Korea’s history,” said commission chairperson Park Sun-young during the report’s release.

Under the new system, major decisions — including vetting prospective adoptive parents and matching them with children — will now be handled by a committee within the Ministry of Health and Welfare. These responsibilities were previously carried out by private agencies with minimal state oversight.

“With this restructuring of the public adoption system, the state now takes full responsibility for ensuring the safety and rights of all adopted children,” said Kim Sang-hee, director of population and child policy at the Ministry.

Despite welcoming the change, some adoptee activists say the reforms must go further.

“While I think it’s high time that Korea close down all private adoption agencies, I don’t believe… having the state handle new adoptions is enough,” said writer Lisa Wool-Rim Sjoblom, a Korean adoptee raised in Sweden.

She urged the government to act on the commission’s findings, issue a formal apology, and take concrete steps to support the tens of thousands of Koreans who were sent abroad through flawed adoption procedures.

“The government urgently needs to acknowledge all the human rights violations it enabled, encouraged, and systematically participated in, and, as soon as possible, begin reparations,” she said.