'Sold like cargo': Korean adoptee in Norway fights to erase past she never chose
More than 50 years after adoption, Jung Kyung-sook plans to sue the Norwegian government for human rights violations
For most of her life, Jung Kyung-sook, 57, lived with an unrelenting ache — a longing for people who looked like her and for the mother tongue she never had the chance to learn.
Sent from Korea to Norway in 1970 at the age of two, she was among the tens of thousands of Korean children sent to Western countries through a flawed adoption system operating from the 1970s to '90s.
Jung was adopted by a Norwegian couple who, she says, subjected her to years of abuse and neglect.
Now living in the rural town of Ramnes, Norway, Jung is among the 56 Korean adoptees who have received the results of a sweeping investigation by Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The findings, announced in March and sent to applicants in June, revealed significant irregularities in past overseas adoption processes.
"I waited almost three years for this result. I was so happy and relieved. It felt like a dream," Jung said in a recent video interview with The Korea Times.
Jung Kyung-sook / Courtesy of Jung Kyung-sook
According to the TRC report, Jung was born on March 27, 1968, and was registered for adoption through Holt International that December. Although the identities of her biological parents had been properly documented, she was falsely registered as an orphan and sent abroad.
"Despite existing records identifying the biological parents, the English-language orphan registry submitted to the receiving country stated that no such information was available, thereby infringing upon the applicant's right to know their identity," the report read.
The TRC's findings mark the first official acknowledgment by the Korean government of its wrongdoings in international adoptions.
However, Jung says it is only the beginning.
Based on the TRC's findings, she plans to file a lawsuit against the Norwegian government, arguing that her adoption violated basic protections that should have safeguarded her as a child. She is also considering taking similar legal action in Korea, depending on how the case unfolds in Norway.
"I was bought and sold like cargo," Jung said. "Receiving countries always knew children came with falsified papers; so did Norway. Western countries demanded children from Korea, and many Korean families paid the ultimate price. My family was one of them."
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