'Gov't should embrace Korean adoptees'

Kim Chang-yong

By Lee Kyung-min

Kim Chang-yong, 59, chairman of the Inje Institute for International Human Resources (IIHR), said Friday that an invitation program for overseas Korean adoptees is key to them maintaining a strong bond with their home country.

The government should offer them an opportunity to learn about their motherland that was unable to offer a home to them during the poverty-stricken period in the 1960s, and then until the late 1990s when the social stigma against babies born out of wedlock was pervasive.

“I think it is almost a public duty for the government as well as Korean society to take care of those who were once abandoned by their home country,” Kim said.

His conviction is stronger than ever following his 16-year experience in organizing the IIHR.

Under the invitation program organized by Inje University in South Gyeongsang Province, adoptees who pay a $2,000 fee, can come to Korea and stay for 14 weeks, learning the Korean language, history, culture, as well as taking trips to cultural hotspots. The rest of the cost is covered by the university and through private funding. A total of 240 adoptees have taken part in the program since 2001.

Their half-hearted curiosity becomes full-fledged affection for the country after coming to see and feel the warmth, generosity and kindness of Koreans, he said.

“They come here with no idea at all about what their home country is like, but they grow attached to the people after they meet and talk with them,” he said.

Some of them settle down here after finding a Korean spouse, and they remain strongly connected to the country emotionally, he added.

A former journalist, Kim came up with the idea of the IIHR program when he stayed in Northern Europe and in the United States in early 1990s.

“I met many Korean adoptees who sought chances to connect with their home country, I took the idea to former university President Paik Nak-whan, and he fully supported it.”

He said the IIHR program could serve as something like a kibbutz, a collective community in Israel that helps Jews learn Hebrew and learn about the pride and traditional values of their ancestors.

“I stayed in a kibbutz in 1985. The elite with Jewish ancestry, including students from Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, all went there and learned about their roots and left with an irreplaceable sense of pride about who they are and where they came from. I hope Korea will be able to maintain a similar system through continuing effort and care.”

Kim added that he wants to counter the unfair image associated with adoptees through media campaign efforts.

“There was a time in 1980-90s when Korean media reported extremely biased reports against the adoptees, trying to characterize them as international orphans or insinuate that they are more prone to commit violent or sexual crimes. It was unbelievable. I personally tried to fight against this by publishing many stories about positive aspects about them as well as writing columns myself.”

“Embracing adoptees is something that is, and will remain, my passion for the rest of my life.”