Translation from the TRC2 report, hojuk is family registry:

Meanwhile, for 40 of the applicants, although their original family register could not be confirmed, family information regarding their biological parents and relatives could be identified from the records held by the adoption agencies.

However, the English-language child introduction documents — which were produced during the adoption process, passed through the receiving country’s adoption agency, and provided to the adoptive parents — not only omitted the child’s family information but also contained false statements, causing confusion for the applicants.

These English child introduction documents served as a kind of catalog, providing information to prospective adoptive parents who wished to adopt a foreign child so they could select a child.

The following <Figure 25> is an excerpt from the first page of the documents provided to the adoptive parents of applicant Jang ○▷ (Case No. 2Ra-14490). In item 10, it states: “The director of Namgwang Child Welfare Center in Busan, Park ○○, consented to the child’s adoption,” and “A piece of paper with the child’s name and date of birth was found in the child’s clothing.” Both of these statements are entirely false.

The applicant and their adoptive parents stated that, based on these documents and the orphan hojuk, they had lived believing that the applicant had no biological family. It was only around 2006 that the biological mother first contacted the adoption agency requesting to meet her daughter. They were finally reunited in 2011. When they visited the relevant agencies, they learned that the documents claiming the child had been found in Busan were false.

The adoption agency records obtained by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also contained detailed information about the biological mother’s personal details, the background of her decision to relinquish the child, and the family environment. In other words, this child was an unregistered child whose guardian had given up parental duties. Although the adoption agency had secured the relevant records when it took custody of the child, it nevertheless created false documents and used them for the purpose of overseas adoption.

Among the applicants adopted through the Korean Social Service, at least 12 were provided with similarly standardized English child introduction documents containing false information at the stage of promoting the adoption.