If a TRC 3 representative group of Korean Adoptees is unwilling to operate in a world of facts, why would you hand over to them your own private adoption documents?
All aboard!
UPDATE — March 17th, 2026:
We were 100% right all along about TRC 2 being impacted by the NIRS fire of September 26th, 2025, yet other Korean Adoptee led groups still deny the facts:
The Debate Is Over: TRC 2 Was Affected In The NIRS Fire, Multiple Sources Confirm.
How might the loss of at least some TRC 2 investigation data — potentially permanently destroyed in the NIRS fire — affect the timeline for rulings in the 311 TRC 2 cases?
TRC Notice: “Regarding the recent fire at NIRS, the (TRC) informs users that no individual records of overseas adoption applicants were lost or damaged…” Yet the TRC Notice OMITS critical information.
Statement by the Korean Association of Archivists: (We) “Strongly Urge the Establishment of a ‘Records Management Division’ in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 3).”
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A serious question: Why would you entrust your sensitive, private adoption documents to a Korean Adoptee led group which is acting as a representative for TRC 3, which outright denies the reality of a major fire in Korea having affected TRC 2 data — even when this incident has been documented by two well respected publications? If a TRC 3 representative group led by Korean Adoptees is unwilling to operate in a world of facts, why would you hand over to them your own private data? What would make them worthy of your trust?
Please see the bottom of this page for a screenshot of this Korean Adoptee led group’s public post, and our fact laden rebuttal to their various false statements.
Please be advised that you can submit your NEW case to TRC 3 INDEPENDENTLY of any representative, Korean Adoptee led groups.
For context:
We recently shared the post below on our Paperslip Blog, which reports the concerns of the Korean Association of Archivists about TRC 3’s overall lack of a Records Management Division, and the fact that a fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) fire on September 26th, 2025 unfortunately destroyed the G-drive, which, amongst thousands of other files, contained at least some TRC 2 data:
Statement by the Korean Association of Archivists: (We) “Strongly Urge the Establishment of a ‘Records Management Division’ in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 3).”
While we have received unofficial assurances that TRC 2 files were transferred directly to TRC 3 and were not destroyed in the September 2025 fire at NIRS, there is still NO OFFICIAL report specifying exactly what TRC 2 data may have been lost in that incident, and what may have been recovered.
Even if all TRC 2 data was ultimately recovered, the situation highlights a serious issue with TRC 3’s data management practices — one that Adoptees have the RIGHT to be fully informed about.
Adoptees should be glad that the Korean Association of Archivists and The Hankyoreh have helped bring these concerns to public attention.
Yet a Korean Adoptee led organization which is acting as a representative for TRC 3 is currently vehemently denying that any TRC data was destroyed in the NIRS fire on September 26th, 2025 — without providing any facts or credible sources to back up their claims — and in the process, spreading a lot of false information which they have not backed up with…well, anything.
For a Korean Adoptee led organization that is acting as a representative group for TRC 3 — and that is collecting Adoptees’ sensitive, private adoption documents — to categorically deny that the NIRS fire affected TRC 2 data at all is, frankly, highly alarming. We frankly do not see why Adoptees would entrust their sensitive, private adoption documents to a group which so strongly denies something in the face of well documented facts.
We previously discussed The Hankyoreh’s reporting on the concerns raised by the Korean Association of Archivists here:
The Hankyoreh Article: “Records Experts: ‘A Records Management Division Must Be Established in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission’”.
We also caution you about TRC 3 itself - per The Hankyoreh article above, currently TRC 3 has NO Records Management Division in place to handle the thousands of documents which are likely to be submitted to them between February 26th, 2026 - February 25th, 2028.
If you submit your case to TRC 3, we strongly urge you to REDACT any sensitive, private information in any of the documents which you submit to TRC 3 — whether you submit your case INDEPENDENTLY or through a representative group.
You should assume that any documents you submit to TRC 3 will be run through AI for translation, and will likely be shared with third parties.
We do not believe in gaslighting Adoptees in order to collect their sensitive, private adoption documents en masse to serve our own ends. Please protect your privacy in these uncertain times!
We have shared a lot of important information about how to submit your NEW case as a Korean Adoptee to TRC 3 INDEPENDENTLY, between February 26th, 2026 - February 25th, 2028. Please see:
PAPERSLIP BLOG: INFO HUB FOR TRC 3 AND IMPORTANT NEWS UPDATES
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Please see related:
Are my documents secure during the TRC 3 process?
Important Links Related To Document Safety and Privacy.
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Below is the public statement released by a Korean Adoptee led group which is acting as a representative group for those applying to TRC 3.
Let’s dissect everything WRONG with the statement below, shall we?
It’s actually kind of amazing how much false information is packed into this one paragraph of text:
The screencapture above is from the PUBLIC page of a group of Korean Adoptees which is acting as a representative group for TRC 3. The Canadian female, er, “board” member who originally posted this at first included her name to indicate who had made this post. She later wisely removed her name, likely when she realized that this post is full of baseless hooey.
We know that everyone makes mistakes — but what concerns us most is that instead of accepting and acknowledging when they are wrong, this Korean Adoptee led group seems to just DOUBLE DOWN on the misinformation, even in the face of clear FACTS. And instead of simply editing or correcting their information like a rational person would, they instead simply BLOCK and GHOST those who disagree with them — even, or especially, when they are WRONG. This is emblematic of the years long behavior of these Korean Adoptee led groups which are organizing Adoptees’ submissions for TRC 3.
We, by contrast, do NOT believe that the road to TRUTH in the TRC 2 and TRC 3 processes should be paved with LIES.
This group states (highlighted in ORANGE above):
“False Rumor – No Fire at TRC
“There are currently rumors about a fire at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) office in Seoul, Korea. This rumor is false.”
Our response:
It is TRUE there was NO fire at the TRC office building in Seoul. This “false rumor” which this group is referring to was NOT begun by us — since we have always correctly stated that the fire was at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) on September 26th, 2025.
We do not say that the fire was at the TRC 2 office in Seoul. Someone just quickly read our post, got confused, and subsequently spread a false rumor about the fire location. It unfortunately wouldn’t surprise us if the person who made the group’s post doesn’t have a great grasp on what we originally wrote, either.
However, the most important thing is that this fire definitely DID destroy some TRC 2 data, which was stored on the G-drive that was destroyed in the NIRS fire. Please see:
Statement by the Korean Association of Korean Archivists: (We) “Strongly Urge the Establishment of a ‘Records Management Division’ in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 3).”
Quote from our post above:
‘We had not previously realized that “TRC 2’s investigation record data” was lost in the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) fire in September 2025.’
Please be sure to read the full Statement by the Association of Korean Archivists above to understand the full scope of their serious and important concerns regarding data management (or the lack thereof) by TRC 2 and TRC 3.
This group states (highlighted in YELLOW above):
“There had been a fire in a data center in Daejeon in September 2025 involving a storage server.” No TRC files were present.”
Our response:
It is PATENTLY FALSE that NO TRC data was destroyed during the fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) on September 26th, 2025. Please see these highly credible sources:
Statement by the Korean Association of Archivists: (We) “Strongly Urge the Establishment of a ‘Records Management Division’ in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 3).”
Quote from the Korean Association of Archivists:
“Because the 2nd Investigation Commission (TRC 2) failed to secure storage space and staff for records management within the Investigation Commission, they were limited to simply using the G Drive, a storage space for administrative civil servants' work data, for storage purposes. Unfortunately, in September 2025, a fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) destroyed the G Drive, and the Investigation Commission's (TRC 2’s) investigation records stored there were also lost. Investigators at the Investigation Commission (TRC 2) attempted to restore the data, but it was not fully recovered.”
The Hankyoreh Article: “Records Experts: ‘A Records Management Division Must Be Established in the 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission’”.
Quote from “The Hankyoreh”:
“As an example, the association cited an incident in September 2025 in which (TRC 2) investigation record data were completely destroyed in a fire at the National Information Resources Service.The (TRC 2) Commission had been using the government’s G-Drive work storage space—intended for general administrative use—simply as a storage facility.”
This group states:
“ALL cases submitted to the TRC were scanned and uploaded to the National Archives.”
Our response:
This is PATENTLY FALSE. Please see this News1 article below from February 26th, 2026, which makes clear that TRC 2 files were NOT transferred to the National Archives, so as to maintain continuity with TRC 3. Instead of TRC 2 files being transferred to the National Archives, which would have made them difficult to retrieve for around one year following TRC 2, TRC 2 files appear instead to have been transferred directly to TRC 3:
“News1 Article: The 3rd Truth and Reconciliation Commission launches “without a chairperson”… urgent tasks ahead.”
Quote from the article above (translation via ChatGPT):
“The second Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ended in November 2025, had its investigation period expire on May 26 of last year, and its liquidation period ends on this day (Feb. 26).
If the third commission launched even one day later, the records of the second commission would be transferred to the National Archives. In that case, the new commission would have to request previous materials from the archives each time it needed them.
When the second commission was launched about 10 years after the first commission ended, it took over a year and a half just to scan documents transferred to the National Archives.
Investigation continuity expected this time
This time, however, the commission is expected to maintain continuity in investigations.
During the second commission’s term, 2,111 cases were halted because the investigation period expired. Investigations may now resume for those cases, as well as for victims who had not yet applied in cases such as:
the Busan Brothers Home case
the Deokseongwon case
Officials say the February 26 launch itself is considered one of the major achievements of the third commission, as it enables “uninterrupted resolution of past injustices.”
This group states (highlighted in GREEN above):
“False rumors can cause members of our adoptee community harm. Please take a moment to fact check with legitimate sources in order to not spread a rumor further.”
Our response:
We entirely AGREE that false rumors can cause Adoptees harm — which is why we do not falsely tell Adoptees that we are lawyers, or baseball stars, or astronauts. We also share links to credible, published sources wherever possible.
We believe this Korean Adoptee led group should take its own advice. Our posts and statements are fully supported by credible, published sources — the very basis of our content on this topic. In contrast, the paragraph this group has shared is riddled with numerous false claims, entirely unsupported by any sources whatsoever. We urge everyone to fact-check using legitimate, published information before amplifying their inaccuracies.