By Michael Lee/Lee Jun Hyuk

From story:

For decades, thousands of Korean children were sent abroad for adoption, their lives determined by private agencies operating with minimal oversight and often incomplete documentation.
 
One of those children was John Quick, now a 42-year-old restaurant owner in Seoul, who was adopted just six months old by an American family in 1983. More than four decades later, the truth of his origins remains elusive.
 
“The adoption papers I have with me say I was abandoned, but the agency says they have information on my parents that they can’t disclose,” he said.
 
Quick is one among the generations of Korean adoptees who have navigated sparse records and legal secrecy in search of their roots. Following the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War, Korea became one of the world’s largest sources of children for international adoption, primarily to the United States and Europe.

While the process created families abroad, it also splintered families in Korea — and left adoptees searching for answers.

Link to story