Please take ALL possible DNA tests if you have interest in finding any blood relatives.
Above: I dropped of my own 23 and Me test kit in the mail this morning. I had previously taken this test back around 2018, but had removed my data following the 23 and Me data breach. However, I had decided months ago that I would retake this test — but due to being the world’s biggest procrastinator, I only did this myself today!
I previously had over 900 relative matches on this test! I have connected with many cousins whom I now consider “cousin friends” around the world. I cannot more strongly recommend taking ALL possible DNA tests if you have any interest in finding any blood relatives.
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I have long recommended that Adoptees with any interest in finding any blood relatives take ALL possible DNA tests.
I consider birth family search to be “multi-pronged” — consisting of:
1. Paper records acquisition through such sources as your adoptive parents, (the now closed) Korean Adoption Agencies, NCRC, and — sometime after all files move from NCRC to the National Archives — the Seongam Branch of the National Archives. For U.S. Adoptees, FOIA requests (which at this time I would NOT recommend doing without first consulting an immigr. lawyer whom you trust) are another route for requesting and obtaining paper records.
2. “Boots on the ground” search in Korea, using any available information you already have obtained.
3. DNA Testing.
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DNA testing is a long game.
I have long said the same thing: DNA testing is a LONG game. It can require years of time and patience.
Most Adoptees will need to manage their expectations regarding DNA testing. Most native Koreans do not take DNA tests. It’s associated with criminality in Korea, and is considered by some to be taboo. Also, most native Koreans have family records dating back decades. They don’t have the same need for DNA testing as we do in the West.
That being said, for years the organization 325Kamra has distributed FREE FTDNA (Family Tree DNA) tests to Korean birth parents in Korea, and to Korean Adoptees around the world. For this reason, it is very important to be on this test. However, FTNDA is also a very small database — so Adoptees are often disappointed when they don’t get immediate high matches on tests like FTDNA — or any of the other tests on which they do not experience immediate high matches. Korean Adoptees need to understand that it can take years to get closer matches through DNA testing. Please be patient, and hold out for the long game. You may be richly rewarded.
Korean Adoptees are going to get the MOST matches on 23 and Me. This test has the most Korean DNA in its database. I had over 900 relative matches on 23 and Me, before I removed my data following their data breach. I was fortunate in that when I first took 23 and Me back around 2018, I got an immediate match to a 2nd cousin, who is also a Korean Adoptee, with whom I am still in contact.
I just today sent in my NEW test. I am eager to see if there are any new results.
I highly encourage Korean Adoptees to take the following tests:
23 and Me
Ancestry
FTDNA
MyHeritage
You can also transfer your raw data to GEDMatch.
Korean Police DNA Test / KNPA Test — which can be taken at a police station in Korea such as Jongno Police Station — or at a Korean Consulate / Embassy in your home country. Please note that this requires obtaining an Adoption Certificate from NCRC. Adoption Certificates are NOT historical documents. They are “red tape” documents you need to perform certain birth family search tasks. These documents are only good for 3 months from the time of issue. Please see:
ADOPTION CERTIFICATES - NCRC Will Accept Applications From July 19th, 2025 — *Via Email!
Please note that if you have birth parent information (such as name/s and / or birthdate/s) in your adoption records which your Korean Adoption Agency once had, NCRC may NOT allow you to take the KNPA test. This is because this test is meant to be only for those who were “abandoned”. Of course, for Adoptees, this is very complicated, since many of us were falsely recorded as “abandoned” in the records our adoptive parents were given, but our Korean Adoption Agencies may have secretly recorded birth parent information. This is a tricky wicket which thousands of Korean Adoptees have had to bang their heads against over the years. Some Adoptees who have birth parent information in their file have been able to get around this blockade, but it’s on a case by case basis.
You should only have to buy 23 and Me and Ancestry. You should be able to transfer raw data from these tests to FTDNA and MyHeritage for FREE.
For DNA questions, please join this forum on Facebook:
DNA tested Korean Adoptee's and Korean War Vets (325Kamra)
Please be advised that 325Kamra is a small volunteer organization run by Korean Adoptees. As such, you may experience some issues or delays in processing of your free FTDNA test. Please note that they will be more responsive through posts on their Facebook group than through email.
If you want faster results, I recommend purchasing your own FTDNA test, or transferring your raw data from another test like Ancestry to FTDNA.
If you transfer your raw data to FTDNA or purchase this test on your own, you can still join the Facebook group above.
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Don’t underestimate those distant cousin matches!
We’re all a link in a chain…
I often tell Korean Adoptees NOT to underestimate those distant cousin matches! When I first began to take DNA tests in 2018, I reached out to EVERYONE — I did not care if they were a 5th cousin 7 times removed.
A word of caution: Do NOT put in your profile that you are a Korean Adoptee, or immediately reveal that you are a Korean Adoptee when you reach out to matches on DNA tests. This is almost certain to scare them away — even if they are distantly related!
Instead, try to reach out with a friendly, pressure-free message, and tell them some cool facts about your life, and provide your EMAIL address. Many people do not often check the internal messaging systems of DNA testing websites. Offer in your first message to any DNA matches your personal email address, which you regularly check.
When I lived abroad in Europe, I included the name of this European country in my signature when I messaged DNA matches, and sometimes they would write back, “Oh, I love that country!” and this would initiate a conversation.
Not all DNA matches will see your message or respond — this is just the landscape of search. Be prepared to develop a thick skin for this, and just forge ahead.
I will say from experience that some very distant cousins have been VERY helpful to me in my search. One distant cousin helped me to connect with and meet closer cousins of mine, and even helped me to connect to multiple translators in Korea. My distant cousin turned out to be a genius amateur genealogist! He is so distantly related to me, that he does not even show up on my 23 and Me test — however, he was managing his aunt’s account, who is my 3rd or 4th cousin, back when I first reached out to her through her account.
Two other DNA cousins have generously offered to test their relatives to assist in my search. Be kind to these distant cousins, and you may be richly rewarded! Plus, they can just become great cousin friends! I personally think it’s a matter of attitude when it comes to reaching out to DNA matches. Keep an open mind and attitude, and it can, over the years, lead you to some closer DNA connections.
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A driving mission of Paperslip is to encourage Korean Adoptees to take ALL possible DNA tests.
My own personal experience — discovering in 2020, in my mid-40s, that I once had a twin from whom I was intended to be separated at my Korean Adoption Agency, KSS — has driven Paperslip’s mission to encourage Korean Adoptees to take ALL possible DNA tests.
I realized that my Korean Adoption Agency KSS was likely ROUTINELY SEPARATING siblings and twins for adoption through its Partner Western Adoption Agencies.
Because KSS had Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and in the European countries of the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, KSS almost certainly separated some siblings and twins between not only different adoptive families, but between DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
Something important to understand is that in Europe, MyHeritage is heavily marketed. I know many Europeans who ONLY have taken MyHeritage. Yet MyHeritage does NOT have a lot of Korean DNA in its database.
Conversely in the US, most people are familiar with 23 and Me and Ancestry, because these tests are heavily marketed here in the US.
FTDNA is not widely known in either the US or Europe — but this is the test which has been distributed for free for YEARS to Korean birth families and Korean Adoptees by 325Kamra.
So if you have siblings or twins who were separated between the US and Europe — there is a strong possibility that even if they have taken a DNA test, they have taken DIFFERENT DNA TESTS.
The DNA test databases are all SILOED from one another. So if you do NOT take the same test, you will NOT match.
It is for this reason that you must take ALL possible DNA tests, in order to give yourself the BEST possible chance of a match!
