Nearly 250,000 South Korean children were adopted to the West as “orphans” in the 60 years following the Korean War. Some to loving homes. Others to tragic ends. Raised in places where they looked like nobody else, many were told to forget their past and be grateful.
But the innate desire to understand where you came from has led many Korean adoptees to search for their roots. In the process, they discover lies in their past and families they never knew existed. In this documentary, correspondent Wei Du travels around the world to meet Korean adoptees and accompany a few on their journey to reclaim who they are. Together, they reveal how an “orphan rescue” mission separated families and erased the roots of hundreds of thousands.
00:00 Meet the adoptees
01:44 The lie of Korea’s “orphans”
03:04 A song I no longer recognise
05:15 Why 10,000 Korean children were sent to Sweden
07:11 How Sweden became a hub for Korean adoptions
10:29 Why the US took in so many Korean children
15:06 GI babies: Korea’s children of US soldiers
19:54 Cult leader’s adopted Korean children
24:13 “Saved from prostitution”? The truth of my adoption
27:55 Why this US couple adopted in 2005
32:03 Lies in our adoption stories
38:22 How Sweden pressured Korea to give up more children
42:49 Chase’s biological sister visits for his 20th birthday
46:15 Anna’s life in Sweden: Always different
48:54 Phil’s search for his birth family
52:46 Rebuilding siblinghood: Mary & Chase’s struggle
58:17 Catherine’s complex relationship with her adoptive mother
1:00:47 Catherine and Anna reunite after 50 years
1:06:58 Phil returns to Korea after 50 years
1:08:58 Koroot: NGO supporting Korean adoptees
1:10:15 Were adoption agencies in it for the money?
1:11:53 “A child supply market”: Moses Farrow
1:17:24 Korea investigates human rights violations in adoption
1:19:26 Confronting the orphanage manager who sent him abroad
1:23:41 Adoptees find comfort in each other
1:26:25 Han Tae-soon’s hunt for her kidnapped daughter
1:29:28 The fight for truth continues
CVD 