Clarification Statement: Paperslip’s Non-Affiliation with EARS (Emergency Action for Records Storage). 

Recently, around June 2025, a new group in Korea called EARS: Emergency Action for Records Storage was formed by a group of Korean Adoptees and a DoKAD (descendant of a Korean Adoptee) named Bastiaan Seo Vin Flikweert. EARS’ admirable goal is to call attention to the issues surrounding the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) — starting July 19th, 2025.

Paperslip has been uniquely dedicated to the issue of WARNING KSS Adoptees and ALL Adoptees about the file transfer to NCRC since March 11th, 2025. We have previously written about our 15 month long campaign to WARN KSS Adoptees about the file transfer to NCRC here:

Paperslip Concludes A 15 Month Campaign To Warn KSS Adoptees About The File Transfer To NCRC

Until the formation of EARS just one month prior to the file transfer to NCRC, Paperslip was the ONLY organization of any kind to consistently talk about and warn Korean Adoptees about this historical transfer of Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC.

We want to pre-empt any misunderstanding as to why Paperslip is not affiliated with EARS, since we share similar goals with respect to the file transfer to NCRC. We do fundamentally support the goals of EARS in attempting to defend the rights of Korean Adoptees, but it’s important to understand why Paperslip and EARS are not affiliated with one another.

Unfortunately on January 1st, 2023, the Danish led organization Danish Korean Rights Group (DKRG) deliberately gave false credit to then DKRG supporter and now EARS founding member Bastiaan Seo Vin Flikweert for our original KSS K-Number research, on a forum from which Paperslip’s Co-Founder — me — had been blocked by DKRG leaders. I had already by this time given up on communication with DKRG, which had ghosted me for no reason from December 7th, 2022 forward — the very day that the TRC investigation into Overseas Adoption began. I tried hard to resolve the issue of DKRG’s having given Bastiaan false credit for my work privately with Bastiaan, but for over one year, he refused to even privately admit that he had had no role in my original research into KSS K-numbers, which was deeply tied to my personal investigation into the switch case of my deceased twin sister, whose existence I had only discovered by accident in 2020 at my Korean Adoption Agency, KSS (Korea Social Service). Bastiaan knew I couldn’t defend myself on DKRG forums from which I was blocked — so he was content to tacitly accept false credit for my work for over one year, until I was finally able to call him out publicly. My original research was only made public on Paperslip in response to the false attribution given to Bastiaan by DKRG — myself and the KSS Adoptee community had never intended to make it public:

KSS K-Numbers

It was in large part due to this treatment by both DKRG and Bastiaan that I withdrew my TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) case in March 2023, despite my case being amongst the first 34 cases accepted by the TRC. Ironically my case had been accepted by the TRC just days after DKRG blocked me from all DKRG / TRC related forums, in December 2022. The multiple punches thrown at me by DKRG and its (then) acolyte Bastiaan ultimately cost me the chance to obtain justice for myself and my twin sister through the historic TRC investigation into Overseas Adoption (2022-2025). Ironically I had been the first Korean Adoptee to submit any Korean Adoptee cases (albeit informally) to the TRC, on December 18th, 2020 — before DKRG was formed, and before the official investigation into Overseas Adoption even began.

My investigation into my own and my twin sister’s deeply falsified cases is what led to the creation of Paperslip in 2020. I had been conducting informal research into KSS K-Numbers since 2020 on a private forum for KSS Adoptees — research which was witnessed by hundreds of KSS Adoptees around the world, including by Bastiaan’s parents, who are both KSS Adoptees. I made the unfortunate mistake of discussing my research — which was never meant to be public — with Bastiaan in February 2022, which was prior to when DKRG was formed in April or May 2022. I had no knowledge of DKRG at the time, and had informed Bastiaan of my research in confidence. After DKRG gave Bastiaan false credit for my work on January 1st, 2023 — on a forum from which DKRG had blocked me for no reason, and on which I could not defend myself, which Bastiaan knew — I would have gladly let the matter go had Bastiaan admitted even privately that he had had no role in my research. Instead, he egregiously doubled down on the lie, and informed me that I had the hypothesis (about KSS K-Number encoding), but he had the proof. This is utterly ridiculous considering I had already solved KSS’ first digit K-number codes by 2021, which had been confirmed by KSS’ Director in the presence of an Associated Press (AP) journalist in Summer 2021.

Below is my post from September 11th, 2021 to the KSS Adoptee forum which I moderate, on which I had conducted the KSS K-Number research since 2020 — with several hundred KSS Adoptee participants from the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland (all of the countries to which KSS had adopted between 1964-2012). My post clearly shows that I had solved KSS’ first digit K-number codes by the date of this posting — which was BEFORE I unfortunately told Bastiaan about this research in February 2022. It’s notable that KSS’ Director confirmed these codes in the presence of an AP journalist in Summer 2021 during a visit to KSS:

The AP article from October 14th, 2024 (linked above) stated: “(She) threw herself into examining the complex numerical system KSS used to log adoption cases, based on hundreds of case numbers she collected from other KSS adoptees. In 2021, she revisited the agency with a long wish list of files.

The meeting, which the AP attended, resulted in a tense back-and-forth for hours with the same long-time social worker.”

Before the AP article came out to finally settle the matter, I only succeeded in getting Bastiaan to confess that he had had nothing to do with my research after over one year by creating a purpose built website, and finally being able to call him out on a non-DKRG forum of which we were both members, from which DKRG was not able to block me. Within one day of my calling him out, Bastiaan finally confessed that he had had nothing to do with my KSS K-Number research. Note that this all happened before the AP article about my case was published on October 14th, 2024, which confirmed my collection of hundreds of KSS K-Numbers in the course of my investigation into my and my twin’s cases, and confirmed my visit to KSS in Summer 2021 with an AP journalist with a list of KSS K-Numbers and KSS K-Number codes which I had already solved by then. It’s still amazing and disgusting to me how much energy and effort it took for me to get someone to tell the simple TRUTH about my work. Below is Bastiaan’s admission that he had nothing to do with my KSS K-Number research, shared to what I had thought was an Adoptee only forum on February 17th, 2024 — when Bastiaan (a non-Adoptee) popped up on this forum, I was finally able to publicly call him out:

It is because of this past history that EARS obviously did not attempt to reach out to me at Paperslip for help with their recent effort — which began just one month prior to the movement of all Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC.

I want to be clear that I fundamentally support the mission of EARS. However, I also believe that those advocating for the ethical behavior of the Korean Government must themselves act ethically toward Korean Adoptees. It is no small matter to have been denied the opportunity to seek justice—for both myself and my deceased twin sister—through a historic TRC investigation into Overseas Adoption, from which I was unjustly excluded. It was especially difficult to witness others attempt to take credit for my work, while presenting themselves in the media as “virtuous” champions of Adoptee justice. I know I am not alone in this experience. Many Adoptees who have made meaningful contributions have been sidelined by the very people who claim to defend our rights.

I do not want people to get the false impression that Paperslip does not support what EARS is doing — Paperslip does support the mission of EARS, but not the past behavior of one of its founders.

I hope this message will be received with understanding.

Thank you.