The Tearful Reunion Myth: Exploring Challenges Korean Adoptees Face While Searching for Their Birth Families

Starting from the period after the Korean War and continuing today, more than 100,000 Korean children were adopted around the world. As they get older, many of them decide to conduct a search for their birth families in Korea, beginning what often turns out to be a long, difficult and emotional process for all involved.

 

Today's guest, Katelyn Hemmeke, is currently in Seoul as a Fulbright researcher, speaking to adoptees about their experiences conducting a birth family search. She has found that it's often incredibly difficult to find information that can help track down birth families, and that even when a search is successful, the emotional journey is not over. Learn more about the challenges adoptees face when they decide to conduct a birth family search in this week's episode of Korean Kontext.

 

Photo taken by Andrew Le.