INTERVIEW Korean adoptee in Germany reunites with birth family after 42 years
German citizen thanks his mother for never giving up searching for himBy Lee Hyo-jin Benjamin Joon went missing in January 1981 at the age of three at Suwon Bus Terminal in Gyeonggi Province, while travelling with his father. The two were holding hands, but the next minute, they were separated.That is the only memory Joon has of Korea.“My blind father was unable to find me and didn't inform my mother, who was living apart from him at that time. Someone must have found me at the terminal and brought me to the city hall of Suwon,” Joon, 45, told the Korea Times in a recent interview.The officials at Suwon city took him to Holt International, a local adoption agency. Five months later, he was sent for adoption to a German family. Benjamin Joon, who was sent for adoption to Germany in 1981, was able to reunite with his birth family in Korea on March 16 through a DNA matching service offered by the Korean government. Courtesy of Benjamin JoonJoon, who now works as a mindfulness instructor in Berlin, sought his biological roots for decades. He especially missed his birth mother
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