beginning from the 1950s went to the US
the rest went to different european
countries especially scandinavia some
went to your some went to Canada and
Australia Adam is one of two hundred
thousand Korean overseas adoptees two
hundred thousand in November 2016 just
before Thanksgiving Adam arrived in
Korea for the first time since he was
adopted he had been deported from the
very country he was adopted into as a
young child all his life he lived as an
American citizen on paper he never was
he was met at the airport by officials
and a representative from global
overseas this link and ngoen career
working for adoptees he had a pet to
sleep in a place to call home even if it
were against his will
unlike Adam the other deported adoptees
who were right before him were dropped
at the airport and left alone by the
immigration officers who escorted them
from the u.s. they were left without any
money without any knowledge of Korean
language without any friends not knowing
where they were where to go or how to
get anywhere most have experienced
homelessness some eventually ending up
committing a crime in desperation to
survive as of 2018 Adam and all the
other deported adoptees among the 18,000
Korean overseas adoptees without
citizenship or unverified citizenship of
adopter country many adoptees have since
the late 1980s returned to Korea showed
a long-term the longest term comes more
than two decades solid statistics are
very difficult to identify but empiric
experiences in the community of adoptees
in Korea show that the trend of adoptees
resettling shorter long term continues
and that the strong continues and ever
changeable community of adoptees in
korea is permanent so what does this
mean I like other adoptees felt on to
come here for reasons I can’t articulate
I did not come here because I find my
birth family or wish to find them I have
a mass of law and I worked for the
Danish public authorities for 12 years I
had a nice apartment in the heart of
hipster Copenhagen and I had a salary
high enough to travel overseas twice a
year and trips within Europe in between
I grew up in the happiest country in the
world and yet I said goodbye to the
comfort of my old lifestyle and
exchanged it for an insecure income
unstable job situation and without any
prospects of making a career what I
gained instead it’s the opportunity to
try to make a difference for fellow
adoptees like Adam through my work at an
NGO providing assistance for adoptees
creating awareness and enabling adoptees
to live in korea organizations for
Korean adoptees in Denmark France
Belgium Italy the Netherlands the US and
many more countries akf adopted Korean
Association celebrated its 30th
anniversary in Sweden in 2016 I grew up
in the happiest country in the world yet
I
chose to say goodbye to the comfort of
my old lifestyle and exchanged it for an
unstable job situation insecure income
and without any prospects of making a
career what again instead of the
standard of my Danish high standard of
life was the opportunity to try and make
a difference for fellow adoptees like
Adam through my work at an NGO working
for adoptees creating awareness and
enabling adoptees to live in Korea in
Korean society community and belonging
acorus Confucianism still influences
society strongly meaning that every
Korean person knows his suburb blood
type and can trace the family family
roots many generations back on the
family registry and adoptees registry
there’s us only us in Korea with
foreigners but we’re not.we Korean but
we’re not deported here or here by our
own free choice Adam I and all the other
Korean overseas adoptees are the are
outsiders and with that commonality we
created our own society and with that
commonality we created our own community
the NGO I work for was founded 20 years
ago by American and European adoptees
seeking a space to belong in Korea their
organizations for Korean adoptees in
Denmark France Belgium Italy the
Netherlands Switzerland Australia the US
and many more countries in the
late-1990s and international gathering
for international for international
Korean overseas adoptees was held for
the first time in Washington then in
Oslo then in Seoul over the years these
gatherings have taken place every 30 and
Seoul and Europe and US and between the
biggest gather more than 500 adoptees
and the families before the internet
existed these groups were the only way
to
connect with other overseas Korean
adoptees to exchange experiences about
adoptee identity searching for and being
reunited with birth family the
organization’s host cultural events
create a compile experiences and create
social networks as the community grows
older the organization’s expand the
focus to families children and
grandchildren of adoptees who want to
learn Korean and eat kimchi but these
groups created 30 years ago has become
something very powerful in Korea we’re
working with the government and creating
a system that enables Adam and the other
deported adoptees have a somewhat decent
life here we’re working on changing
policies and legislation we support each
other and other groups in society
disconnected from the mainstream younger
overseas adoptees come to us
Korean overseas adoptees now asking how
we created the community we have wanting
to research it explore it and become a
part of it because they have the same
need to belong National Assembly finally
realized that the petition of adoptees
is an issue when another deported
adoptee who came years before Adam
finally had enough and jumped from a
building in May 2017 I and other
representatives from the adopted
community Harry Phillips coffin despite
protests from the funeral house employee
because women do not usually do this in
Korea an adoptee from NGO transported
Phillips ashes to the US and returned
them to his adoptive parents so he
should not have to rest in a country he
did not wish to be in sadly we failed in
preventing
Stud but the community heard when adam
desperately called out for help on
social media when american immigration
officers knocked on the door to his home
three years ago adoptive groups in the
u.s. tried to help him by rallying for
changes in the citizenship legislation
in korea we were able to notify
officials under the government who had
no clue that his removal case have been
initiated the removal process took
almost two years we made sure other
adoptees visited Adam while he was in
detention detention centers are prison
like facilities are managed by American
immigration you have no right to see a
judge you have no right to legal
representation and you can be held
indefinitely at worst as I heard it from
Adam the tension is pretty horrible and
Adam was picked up at Incheon Airport by
faces that by then had become familiar
to him from visits in detention he has
been taken care of by an organization
under the government and NGOs including
mine the other deported adoptees who
came before him did not know about the
community of Korean overseas adoptees so
for the first time ever in the history
of adoptees being deported back to Korea
Adam was the first who had a community
when he came here he’s still mourning
the loss of his American life watching
his daughter’s grow up to Skype he gets
frustrated by the hoops he must jump
through in order to keep a roof over his
head he’s still trying to figure out
what it means I’ve been reunited with
birth family and how to manage when
well-meaning people tell him how lucky
he is by going public with his story he
everything at stake but he also became
part of our community and he has paved
the way for other adoptees and similar
situations creating awareness that there
is a community of us who are willing to
do what we can to help you
just because we’re overseas Korean
adoptees Adam wasn’t the first who
needed our community
unfortunately I’m sure he will not be
the last thank you [Applause]