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Thu, December 7, 2023 | 22:37

Loss of family, sisterhood, language and country

Loss of family, sisterhood, language and country

In an interview with poet and translator Don Mee Choi, Korean poet Kim Hye-soon spoke about the language of death. Feminine writing, she says, unlike masculine language, “begins from a place of emptiness/nothingness, a place that’s full with the presence of absence.”

2023-12-04 09:50

Can Korea confront its legacy of exporting children?

Can Korea confront its legacy of exporting children?

My research focuses on the movement of children across borders, specifically migration matters related to intercountry adoption laws and policies. During my exploration of these issues, a question that has always lingered in the depths of my mind is whether Korea can ever reckon with its history of sending over 200,000 children overseas for adoption and confront its legacy of...

2023-11-12 10:14

A pilgrimage home: adoptees' journey to 'homeland' in search of meaning of origin and identity

A pilgrimage home: adoptees' journey to 'homeland' in search of meaning of origin and identity

An adoptee once told me that the journey of an adoptee to their homeland, Korea, is like a pilgrimage. We may interpret this comment in several ways because a pilgrimage has different meanings. Common definitions refer to it as a spiritual journey to a special spiritual site or an exploratory journey to a foreign place in search of inner meaning.

2023-10-30 11:11

Cherishing of mothers

Cherishing of mothers

When I was first pregnant, someone told me that I was once a tiny egg in my mother’s ovaries when my grandmother was carrying my mother inside her womb. I remember imagining it like a Russian nesting doll, and I was inside my mother who was inside her mother, and now my child is inside of me. This physical connection of women felt particularly significant because though I ima...

2023-10-06 10:48

Solving problem of adoptee representation in film, TV

Solving problem of adoptee representation in film, TV

I discovered my passion for film and television at a fortunate time, in 2018, the year of “Crazy Rich Asians.” Like many of us, I fixated on the feeling of “Finally! It's our turn now.” After decades of being pushed to the sidelines, Asians were stepping into the spotlight and onto the big screen. Each new Asian-led or Asian-created release after the breathless success of “Cr...

2023-09-09 14:11

Never-ending quest: defining ethnic identity as son of adoptee

Never-ending quest: defining ethnic identity as son of adoptee

"Just tell them you are South Korean." That was the advice my mother gave me when, as a five-year-old child, I came home after being bullied at school by two Belgian boys. Born to a white Belgian father and a mother who was born in Korea and adopted at the age of three in 1975 to a Belgian family, I vividly remember how the schoolmates repeatedly called me "Chinese" and made ...

2023-08-27 09:09

'I still have hole in my heart I can't fill,' says founding member of Adopted Koreans Association

'I still have hole in my heart I can't fill,' says founding member of Adopted Koreans Association

I was born in 1966 in the district of Gwangsan in Gwangju, and adopted to Stockholm, Sweden, when I was two years and four months old. The name given to me by the adoption agency was Kim Hak-bo, but I have no information about my biological parents or my background, so the first years of my life have been more or less erased.

2023-08-15 08:23

Reclaiming identity: right to trace birth parents in transnational adoption

Reclaiming identity: right to trace birth parents in transnational adoption

Who are my first parents/family? What were the circumstances surrounding my adoption? How can I obtain my adoption file or other relevant documents? Can I contact my first family, and if so, how?

2023-07-23 09:26

Accountability comes knocking: more European countries investigate illicit intercountry adoption activities

Accountability comes knocking: more European countries investigate illicit intercountry adoption activities

Defending and advocating human rights requires continuous engagement. One doesn't simply sit back and hope that the U.N. or other human rights bodies will initiate investigations. And even when this does occur, it requires constantly knocking on people's doors ― diplomats, U.N. officials, relevant experts, and stakeholders to ensure accountability.

Kim Rahn | 2023-07-09 21:58

Dutch Korean artist's project: The Mother Mountain Institute of Sara Sejin Chang

Dutch Korean artist's project: The Mother Mountain Institute of Sara Sejin Chang

Korean adoptee artists have garnered attention in the western countries where they live, but their works remain relatively unfamiliar to people in their country of origin. This obscurity isn't due to a lack of effort on the part of the adoptees. Despite their attempts to engage with Korean society, Koreans have yet to reciprocate in kind.

2022-05-28 09:37

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