Amongst those of the 56 Korean Adoptees who received a Decision from TRC 2, none that I know of received any supporting documents as a result of their Decision.
Above: Our AI image, “Justice Shrugs”.
Amongst those of the 56 Korean Adoptees who received a Decision from TRC 2, none that I know of received any supporting documents as a result of their Decision.
TRC 2 = Second Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea (2020-2025)
TRC 3 = Third Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea (2026-2030?)
I’ve recently spoken with a few of the 56 Korean Adoptees who received a Decision in their case as part of TRC 2. In order to obtain any documents from the TRC 2 investigation into their cases, they had to submit a document request to TRC 2 at the end of its investigation in late 2025 — and had to do so within a short timeframe, or else they missed their opportunity.
However, of those I have spoken with, NO Adoptee who received a Decision received any supporting documents from TRC 2 to support the findings in their Decision. At least, they didn’t receive any documents which they had not directly submitted to the Commission themselves. Some did receive further information about their cases, but did not receive supporting documents to support this information from TRC 2. I imagine that after three years of waiting, this must have felt disappointing.
While I have not talked to all 56 Adoptees, I doubt that the case would be very much different for the others.
While TRC 3 may be slightly different in terms of the ability of the Commission to obtain documents, whether or not those are eventually shared with the Adoptees themselves remains to be seen.
I do not think that Adoptees should think of TRC 3 as a surefire way to obtain adoption documents. Nor is TRC 2 or TRC 3 a birth family search process fundamentally. To obtain adoption documents and request a birth family search, Adoptees should file a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure request to NCRC.
TRC 3 is about proving S. Korean Government accountability in Overseas Adoption. It is not fundamentally a birth family search process, nor did TRC 2 apparently share with the 56 Adoptees who received a Decision much or any supporting evidence in their personal cases. As one of the 56 Adoptees who received a Decision wryly notes, the fact that TRC 2 did NOT provide Adoptees with supporting documents at the conclusion of TRC 2 makes it difficult for Adoptees to bring their cases to court.
Please see related:
Shortcut page for navigating the NCRC process.
Paperslip links related to submitting your case INDEPENDENTLY to TRC 3.
Even KSS Adoptees among the 56 TRC 2 decision recipients did NOT receive the KSS form “국내소속서류작성의뢰서” (Request Form for Preparation of Domestic Affiliation Documents).