South Korea admits to mass exporting children overseas

South Korea, according to BBC.com on Wednesday, March 26, 2026, has reportedly admitted to mass exporting children in overseas.

South Korean Government has reportedly committed numerous human rights violations over decades in a controversial programme.

This programme is said to have sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, a landmark inquiry has found.

It said the government’s lack of oversight enabled the “mass exportation of children” by private agencies.

These agencies it says were driven by profit, and it found examples of fraud, falsified records and coercion.

Since the 1950s, South Korea has sent more children abroad for adoption than any other country, with most sent to Western countries.

South Korea has sinced moved to tighten its adoption processes.

However some adoptees and their biological parents say they are still haunted by what they went through.

The BBC spoke to one woman who claimed her adoptive parents “took better care of the dog than they ever did of me”.

“This is a shameful part of our history,” said Park Sun-young, the chairperson of the commission, at a press briefing.

“While many adoptees were fortunate to grow up in loving families, others suffered great hardship and trauma due to flawed adoption processes.

“Even today, many continue to face challenges,” he added.

The report was released on Wednesday by the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission following an investigation that began in 2022.

Since then, 367 adoptees, all of which were sent overseas between 1964 and 1999, had filed petitions alleging fradulent practices in their adoption process.

Some 100 petitions have been analysed so far, of whom 56 adoptees were recognised as victims of human rights violations.

The commission is still investigating other cases, with the inquiry set to end in May.

In the aftermath of the Korean war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and few families were keen on adopting children.

South Korea’s government then began a transnational adoption programme handled by private agencies.

These agencies were given significant powers through special adoption laws.

But there was a “systemic failure in oversight and management”, which led to numerous lapses committed by these agencies, according to the report.

The report noted that foreign agencies had demanded a set number of children every month and Korean agencies complied.

This facilitated large-scale intercountry adoptions with minimal procedural oversight.

With no government regulation on fees, the Korean agencies charged large amounts and demanded “donations”.

These donations turned adoptions into “a profit-driven industry”, according to the report.

Other lapses include adoptions conducted without proper consent from birth mothers and inadequate screening of adoptive parents.

The agencies also fabricated reports that made children appear as if they were abandoned and put up for adoption; and intentionally gave children wrong identities.

Because many adoptees had false identities listed in their paperwork, they now struggle to obtain information about their birth families and are left with inadequate legal protection, the report noted.

The commission has recommended the government deliver an official apology, and to comply with international standards on transnational adoptions.