Overview

• President Lee Jae Myung posted the apology on Thursday, one day after South Korea formally joined the Hague Adoption Convention following ratification in July.
• He acknowledged state failures flagged by recent court rulings and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which examined 367 complaints from overseas adoptees.
• The commission confirmed 56 cases involving fabricated birth records, false orphan registrations, identity tampering and inadequate vetting by private agencies.
• Official records indicate more than 170,000 children were sent abroad for adoption since the Korean War, with more than 100 a year still leaving in the 2020s.
• Lee instructed ministries to build a human-rights-centered adoption system, enforce new domestic adoption laws, and support adoptees seeking family records and origins.