Suggestion: Take PRINTED copies of your existing adoption documents with you when you VIEW or get a COPY of your file at NCRC — or in the future at The National Archives — in order to compare.
Image: Unsplash Stock.
Below:
Advice for those who have scheduled in-person appointments in Korea to view or get a copy of their former Korean Adoption Agency file.
Please note that currently, ALL former Korean Adoption Agency files are stored at NCRC’s Temporary Storage Facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. You can only VIEW your file here. You can CURRENTLY only get a COPY of your file at NCRC’s Main Office in Seoul.
However, in the near future — beginning in October, November, and December 2026, ALL former Korean Adoption Agency files will be transferred to the Seongam Branch of the National Archives.
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No matter WHERE you ultimately view your former Korean Adoption Agency file, here is our suggestion:
Take PRINTED copies of your existing adoption documents with you when you VIEW your file at NCRC — or in the future at the Seongam Branch of the National Archives — in order to COMPARE what documents you have already vs. what exists in your former Korean Adoption Agency file in Korea.
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It’s a useful way to see if your former Korean Adoption Agency file — which you can now obtain a COPY of through a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure request to NCRC — contains more (or even less) information than you currently have.
This also has the added benefit of slowing the in-person review process down a bit, to allow you to ask questions, and potentially gain more information about your file from the worker with whom you are reviewing your file.
Please see this important post which details the history of the transfer of ALL former Korean Adoption Agency files to various locations:
I visited NCRC’s Temporary Storage Facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, in March 2026, since I knew the files would be transferred again to The National Archives sometime in 2026. Here’s my advice.