The Korea Times: ‘Sold like cargo’: Korean adoptee in Norway fights to erase past she never chose

By Lee Hyo-jin

'Sold like cargo': Korean adoptee in Norway fights to erase past she never chose
Jung Kyung-sook poses with her dog in Norway in this undated photo. Courtesy of Jung Kyung-sook

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.

Link to story.


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