'Korea should create DNA banks for overseas adoptees'

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Tue, September 26, 2023 | 01:02

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'Korea should create DNA banks for overseas adoptees'

Posted : 2020-01-17 16:48

Updated : 2020-01-18 09:40

Han Woo-sung, head of Overseas Koreans Foundation, in his office last week / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

Han Woo-sung, 63, head of the government-funded Overseas Koreans Foundation (OKF), says it is imperative for the government to set up a DNA database for overseas Korean adoptees and their birth family.

"Over half of the Korean adoptees I have talked to want to meet their birth family. If they don't want to face the parents who abandoned them, they're at least looking for a sibling to help them find their roots," Han said in a phone interview, Thursday. "Because remaining documents are often inaccurate, DNA search is the only effective option to carry out the search."

A former Korean language reporter who was based in the U.S. for 30 years, Han has been lobbying for a government-run DNA database for adoptees since taking office in 2017. Thanks to an administrative change implemented this year, overseas Korean adoptees, under certain conditions, may register their DNA on the national database for missing people via South Korea's 34 diplomatic missions in 14 nations rather than directly visiting a police station here.

But by law, parents who gave up their child for overseas adoption are not eligible to register with the DNA database program for missing persons. There must be proof their children went missing and were adopted overseas without their knowledge or consent. The limited scope of the program is seen as a problem by some.

There are some foreign private companies who have stepped in to fill the need but their services are usually costly. And since DNA information is sensitive personal data, the government should be the one managing and providing the DNA matching services to adoptees and birth families via the national database, he said.

"We have the National Police Agency and several lawmakers backing us on a legislation that would allow all birth parents to register their DNA information on the national database," Han said. "The plans are on hold for now due to the upcoming elections but I think we will be able to push it through in the next legislative Assembly,"

The OKF estimates around 200,000 Korean orphans have been sent to wealthier western countries since the country's independence in 1945. Even now, as the world's 12th largest economy, around 400 babies each year are adopted by families from abroad.

To help more overseas Korean adoptees connect with their roots, the OKF will also expand its visitation program this year. Around 250 adoptees will be chosen and flown-in for a one-week all―expenses-paid trip to South Korea.

sylee@koreatimes.co.kr