Yonhap News: “Past-history victims: ‘We don’t have much time… investigate cases involving elderly and seriously ill victims first.’”
Original Korean article posted on October 7th, 2026.
ChatGPT translation posted to Paperslip on October 7th, 2026.
Please see original Korean article for photos.
BOLDS and blue highlighting ours.
We have added some information in parentheses ( ) for clarity.
Past-history victims: “We don’t have much time… investigate cases involving elderly and seriously ill victims first”
Published: October 7, 2026, 3:49 p.m.
Reporter: Yang Soo-yeon
Press conference calls for Truth and Reconciliation Commission to begin investigations into human rights abuses at detention facilities and in adoptions
(Photo by Yang Soo-yeon)
“SEOUL (Yonhap News Agency) — Victims of human rights abuses at group detention facilities and in adoption cases who are awaiting investigations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea have called for cases involving elderly victims and those with serious illnesses to be investigated as a priority.
At a press conference held on October 7 in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Jung-gu, Seoul, 19 organizations representing victims of group detention facilities and adoption-related abuses called for the commission to “establish an emergency priority-investigation procedure for elderly and seriously ill survivors, and, even before a decision is made to formally open an investigation, promptly record and preserve the victims’ testimony.”
The third-term Truth and Reconciliation Commission first decided in July to begin investigating 2,111 cases whose investigations had been suspended by the second-term commission. It is now making decisions to open investigations into newly filed cases in sequence.
Participants at the press conference emphasized that the commission must quickly secure testimony from elderly and seriously ill victims, who have limited time remaining to recount their experiences of abuse.
Han Il-young, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Children’s Protective Center Truth-Finding Initiative, said, “We don’t have much time. The people who lived with us and those who remember what happened back then are passing away one by one.”
“Waiting several months or several years is not simply an administrative procedure. It means losing the last opportunity, while we are still alive, to have the state confirm the truth and restore our honor,” Han said.
The victims also emphasized that many group detention facilities and adoption-placement agencies were privately operated. They urged the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to take active measures to ensure that these facilities do not arbitrarily destroy records that could establish human rights abuses, including admission and discharge registers, children’s personal information cards, guardianship and adoption records, and subsidy and inspection materials.”