AUDIO DOCUMENTARY: Korean International Adoption Business

South Korea has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the first known nation to allow adoption out of their country to other countries in an official manner from nation state to nation state.  International Adoption out of Korea brings in between 15 to over 20 million dollars annually, according to various financial reports.

Harry and Beth Holt, of Oregon, adopted the first children out of Korea in 1954, after many mixed race children were born and left in Korea when the first wave of U.S. servicemen left Korea after the Korean War.  Since then, its idea has grown to a multi-million dollar business.  I will include a post on the Holt story later.

70 percent of these transnational adoptions from Korea, go to the United States, with Australia and European nations following.  As is the case with most transracial adoptions across nations, there is a higher percentage of issues and concerns associated, even if the adoptees lead so-called “happy” and “successful” lives.

The following Audio documentary from the BBC, entitled Korea’s Lost Children is excellent.  It is about 22 minutes long.

Also, I have included the link to wikipedia‘s fairly decent overview of the Korean international adoption business. Click here.