Blood ties stressed by parents

By Lee Kyung-min

Blood ties trumps the yearning to be parents, a study showed Monday.

Couples that have difficulty conceiving stay so rather than opt for adoption, according to a study by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

When asked whether they would love and raise an adopted child as their biological one, out of 8,236 women aged between 15 to 64, more than half, 57.9 percent said no.

The rate rose by 12 percentage point from 45 percent last year.

To the same question, men’s response wasn’t much different.

Out of 1,811 men, 56.7 percent said no.

Some 12 percent women aged between 20 and 44, said they have considered adoption, but few actually acted on it _ only 0.6 percent of them actually adopted a child _ the study showed.

When it comes to women who suffer from infertility, the rate went up to 29.7 percent.

But the cases with those women were not so different. Only 0.8 percent of them adopted.

The culture that emphasizes blood ties leads to many parents to shun adoption, one expert said.

“Adoption, domestic or international, is very unusual choice for Korean parents, or at least they think so,” said Kim Seung-kwon, a senior researcher at Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

“The government subsidizes running orphanage, it’s ultimately in the interest of the government to encourage domestic adoption,” he added.