Naver News:
”Adoption Records Digitization Scandal Crushes Hopes of Adoptees.”
Shared to Paperslip on June 17th, 2025.
Translation via ChatGPT.
Please see original article linked above for photographs.
Thanks to a Paperslip Contributor for the article.
See this related article on Paperslip:
New MBC Video Highlights The Failures of NCRC - The Korean Government Agency Which Takes Over ALL Korean Adoption Files In July 2025
(Posted to Paperslip on January 15th, 2025)
Please note — Paperslip has been the ONLY Korean Adoptee led organization (or ANY organization) to have consistently WARNED Korean Adoptees about the file transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC, which begins July 19th, 2025. The issues discussed in the translated article below only support long-held fears we at Paperslip have had about the file transfer since we first learned about it over one YEAR ago. Since that time, we have been the ONLY organization to CONSTANTLY warn Korean Adoptees to request both a birth family search and their relevant Korean documents from their Korean Adoption Agencies PRIOR to the NCRC file transfer. Unfortunately, no other organizations or individuals have discussed this issue as much as we have for as long as we have done so.
Beginning to “WARN” people about this issue in June 2025 — just 1-2 days prior to the deadline to submit a request to NCRC prior to the file transfer beginning July 19th, 2025, as one recently formed org has done — is unfortunately over a YEAR TOO LATE.
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Please see the IMPORTANT DROPDOWN MENU on Paperslip’s homepage about the July 19th, 2025 transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC, titled:
”AFTER July 19th, 2025, ALL Birth Family Search Requests Must Be Processed Through NCRC/KAS”.
There are MANY IMPORTANT related pages linked under this dropdown menu.
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”Korea Times Subscription PICK Notice
[Exclusive] Input “Kim Hyun-guk” as “Kim Hyun-joo”… Adoption Records Digitization Scandal Crushes Hopes of Adoptees
Published: June 13, 2025, 7:00 AM
By Reporter Won Dara
[Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Refers Case to Police]
Blank pages scanned and passed off as adoption records in exchange for payment
Falsified labor costs discovered
Child Rights Agency suspected of favoritism toward involved company
Original adoption records vanished, leaving adoptees in tears
“Any clue to finding my family is now gone forever.”
Anne (63), an adoptee sent to the U.S. at age 5 after being found in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul in 1962, expressed her frustration at a seminar on May 31 held in Magok-dong, Seoul. The event, titled “Lost Records of Overseas Adoptees: Problems in Record Transfer,” highlighted the implications of the so-called “blank scan corruption scandal” and the situation that followed.
The scandal centers around a 10-year digitization project of adoption records managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s affiliated agency, the Korea Child Rights Agency. Poorly executed and riddled with corruption, the project coincided with the closure of many orphanages, leading to the loss of original records and the impossibility of recovery.
According to Korea Times reporting, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) discovered that the agency may have granted preferential treatment to the company that won the contract and has referred the matter to the police.
Company Received ₩2 Billion Over 10 Years for Blank Scans
During last year's National Assembly audit, legislators raised numerous questions about the “blank scan scandal.” The Korea Child Rights Agency had spent ₩2.039 billion (~$1.5M) over 10 years digitizing adoption records. The project involved scanning and inputting adoption documents from 86 childcare facilities across the country.
For adoptees, it was a hopeful path to finding their birth families.
However, the agency entrusted the project to the same company for 9 out of those 10 years. That company scanned blank pages but claimed to have scanned real documents and entered false or incorrect data—such as adoptees' names, birth parents’ names and addresses—into the system.
Hard drives containing scanned files were even lost. Though the agency hired a separate company to monitor quality (auditing), that contractor either didn’t review the project properly or failed to enforce corrective actions.
Despite confirming these problems through internal audits, the agency failed to take action.
Only ₩58 Million Ordered to Be Recovered
The Ministry of Health and Welfare later decided to recover only ₩58 million of the ₩2 billion spent. This minimal amount was based only on wages tied to scanning blank pages—despite the company failing to complete core parts of the job: classification, numbering, image correction, metadata extraction, and system upload.
Even that small amount hadn’t been recovered as of six months later. A ministry official stated a civil suit is underway to recover the funds.
Double-Billing Labor Costs: More Fraud Uncovered
Further investigation revealed that the same company received another contract from 2019 to 2021 for digitizing records of missing adoptees. They falsely reported people who never worked on the project and pocketed ₩44.02 million in labor costs. Yet the agency didn’t reclaim the funds, despite knowing about the issue.
The ACRC confirmed these facts after receiving a whistleblower report and referred the case to the Seoul Namdaemun Police Station on June 12.
Investigators found:
The agency structured its bid to favor only companies with prior experience (i.e., the same company)
The disqualified company rebranded and won the bid again
Audit fees were inflated up to 35% of the contract cost (far above the typical 7%) despite inadequate monitoring
Original Documents Lost—Adoptees Devastated
The more painful truth: the ministry has no plans to restart the project, nor any way to recover the missing data. Many of the 86 facilities shut down during the 10-year period, taking the original records with them. Even if the project were restarted, it would be impossible to recover what was lost.
The ministry says the original documents belonged to the orphanages and couldn’t be retrieved.
Documents already digitized include numerous errors: names like “Kim Hyun-guk” wrongly entered as “Kim Hyun-joo,” birth years changed from 1971 to 1973, missing or incorrect addresses, and mismatched personal ID numbers. These were confirmed by Rep. Kim Nam-hee’s office (Democratic Party), based on incomplete audit records.
“One Letter Can Be the Key to a Family Reunion”
Kim Yu-kyung, director of Banet (a group helping adoptees find birth families), criticized the handling:
“Even one letter in a record can be the clue to finding family. Mistakes in this process are unacceptable.”
Many overseas adoptees were sent abroad between the 1950s and 1980s. Now middle-aged, their birth parents are often in their 80s or 90s. The adoptees' wish is simple: to meet their families before it's too late.
Mary, a Korean-American adoptee who has since gained Korean citizenship and voted in the presidential election, shared:
“Adoption records are often the only proof of who we are. Some even include handwritten letters or photos from birth families. The fact that these were destroyed under this project has devastated many of us.”
She said she voted for a candidate who supported the launch of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Phase III, which President Lee Jae-myung had promised. The second phase ended with unfinished business, and many adoptees hope to restore their past and find their families.
No Clear Plans to Restart the Project
A Seoul Namdaemun Police Station official said:
“We just received the referral today and haven’t reviewed the case in detail yet. We’ll proceed with an investigation after reviewing the material.”
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said it would first prioritize transferring physical records from adoption agencies that were never digitized before. Broader digitization may happen afterward.
By Won Dara (dara@hankookilbo.com)”