Statement On The Recent TRC / TRCK (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea) Protest By Adoptees -
By Paperslip’s Co-Founder.
Update—April 23rd, 2025:
As the Korea Times predicted, 311 of 367 cases originally submitted to the TRC by Korean Adoptees were dropped by the TRC on April 23rd, 2025 (KST):
“42 More Overseas Adoptees Denied Truth-Finding…Remaining 311 Cases ‘Investigation Halted’”
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Posted to Paperslip on April 10th, 2025.
UPDATE:
Possible FRAUD Alert for Peter Moeller of DKRG - Who Claims To Be A “Lawyer”
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Please note that TRC = Truth and Reconciliation Commission
TRCK = Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea
I use these terms interchangeably as they refer to the same thing.
While it’s ostensibly good that Adoptees are protesting the fact that the TRC failed to review 311 of 367 cases of Korean Adoptees originally submitted to the Commission in 2022 before the TRC concludes in May 2025, below are my thoughts about this recent show of “Solidarity” by DKRG and its associated Adoptee organizations. I am sorry if my views might be unpopular. Sometimes the truth is unpopular, but it is still the TRUTH. And I think some hard truths need to be told for the good of the Korean Adoptee community.
If there is a new TRC formed by the new government, which seems unlikely as TRC historically seems to form every 5-10 years, then DKRG / Peter Moeller and Boonyoung Han need to be REMOVED as the sole mouthpiece of the TRC for Adoptees. While undeniably some good things have been accomplished by DKRG, behind the scenes they have been brutal control freaks who have blocked countless Adoptees with active TRC cases from their forums. This has likely contributed to the inability of the TRC from communicating effectively with Adoptee stakeholders during the course of the investigation, and may indeed have cost some Adoptees their TRC cases.
The TRC should never have outsourced its communications to DKRG, which went "power crazy" on Adoptees. If relevant, the TRC in future should be directly responsible for its OWN DIRECT COMMUNICATION with Adoptees.
Peter also needs to stop telling people he is a lawyer, when he does not appear to be one. He is once again identified as a lawyer in this recent article about the protest. Peter has been telling people that he is a “lawyer” since 2022, but there is no evidence that he is one in either Denmark or Korea. Telling people you are a lawyer when you are probably not one and then collecting a person’s private adoption documents under that likely false premise (as he did with me and many others) is very likely FRAUD. This is NOT the first time that Peter Moeller has been called out for bad behavior. His fraudulent activities with the START! and Vesterbro Music Festivals in Denmark have been widely documented in at least 6 articles in the respected Danish publication Politiken, amongst other news outlets dating back to 2011.
Other non Adoptee stakeholders feel that continuing the current TRC 2, even if possible, would be pointless as the current Chairperson is a highly conservative appointee by the impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol. This is why the banner which protesting Adoptees are holding in various newspaper articles says “Solution: TRC 3”.
The problem with a TRC 3 is that the 311 Adoptees who have already waited 3 years for nothing in their case would likely have to reapply to any new TRC. Their cases would not likely automatically carry over.
Personally I think since the TRC only ruled that 56 of the 98 cases they reviewed (367 cases total were originally submitted) contained evidence of human rights abuses, that it’s highly likely that the remaining 311 cases, even if reviewed by the TRC, would not likely be found to contain sufficient evidence given that most Adoptees don’t have much evidence in the first place. (Yes, I entirely understand that Adoptees’ lack of paperwork is a human rights abuse unto itself, but the current TRC has not recognized that as they have a conservative Chairperson). This is why a TRC 3 with a new Chairperson makes more sense for Adoptee stakeholders, but I personally do not see a TRC 3 happening with the upcoming Presidential election taking place on June 3rd, 2025.
This Korea Times article makes clear why a TRC 3 seems unlikely anytime soon:
“Extending the TRC’s term requires legislative approval. The commission’s Chairperson Park Sun-young had called for an extension, but the National Assembly failed to act due to partisan gridlock.”
“After the Assembly’s failure to renew the TRC’s mandate, overseas adoptees are now demanding the launch of a third commission.”
“However, establishing a third TRC also appears unlikely in the near term, as it would require approval from the president and the appointment of eight commissioners by the Assembly — a lengthy process, particularly with Korea set to hold a snap presidential election on June 3.”
My case, along with my twin’s, contained so much compelling evidence that it was among the first 34 accepted by the TRC back in 2022. Based on the TRC’s early acceptance of my case based upon my having submitted a lot of evidence, it is highly likely that of the cases it reviewed, the TRC has likely already reviewed the most well-documented ones first—those with the strongest evidence. These early cases were probably among the 58 the TRC ultimately concluded involved human rights abuses. In other words, I question if the remaining 311 cases of Adoptees which the TRC has not yet reviewed contain compelling evidence, though I am not privy to the evidence in these cases. Had I not been compelled to withdraw my case in March 2023 due to DKRG’s egregious actions, both my case and my twin’s would almost certainly have increased the number of cases which had been favorably ruled upon by the TRC.
At this point I think the bigger issue for Adoptees is the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC, slated to begin on July 19th, 2025. I have seen Boonyoung post to a Korean Adoptee forum something to the effect that Adoptees shouldn’t worry about the file transfer to NCRC because DKRG has all of this handled. Boonyoung was not even able to get a ruling by the TRCK that her own case contains human rights abuses. Do we seriously think the Korean government is willing to be so easily defeated? How much control DKRG leaders have over things is not something I would put my faith in. Currently the NCRC does not even have a *temporary* building to store Korean Adoption Agency files, much less a permanent one. This Adoptee group needs to move to NCRC to protest there in this nascent show of “solidarity”.
NCRC Still Does Not Have A Permanent Building To Store Korean Adoption Agency Records (NEWS)
I am sorry that 311 Adoptees waited for 3 years for nothing under the knife threat of DKRG that if they ever questioned Peter or Boonyoung they would be blocked from DKRG’s TRC groups. I for one am glad I withdrew my TRC case in March 2023 because DKRG is another egregious layer within the adoption system that I certainly don’t need. And I am infinitely thankful that I never submitted my twin’s switch case documents to them, as it’s clear that they cannot be trusted in many respects.
But other Adoptees are welcome to find out for themselves - I can’t stop them from joining the bandwagon. I can only do my best to WARN THEM.
It’s ironic as despite the number of Adoptee organizations with which DKRG has partnered, the one org which has contributed the most to the ability to obtain the most evidence represented by the TRC Interim Report is Paperslip:
The TRCK’s Interim Report Of March 26th, 2025 Owes Much To The Uncredited Work of Paperslip
And the TRC’s acknowledgment in its Interim Report of Systemic Switching as a human rights abuse owes a HUGE amount to the fact that I was the first person to submit ANY Adoptee cases to the TRC on December 18th, 2020, which is 1.5 years before DKRG even formed. I submitted case summaries of nearly one dozen switched Adoptees to the head of the TRC through a contact, which is how the TRC came to find out about Systemic Switching:
How Systemic Switching of Orphans by S. Korean Adoption Agencies Was Brought To Public Light
But I was blocked out of the TRC movement by DKRG on December 7th, 2022 as soon as the TRC began its investigation into Overseas Adoption, since DKRG wanted sole credit for my work. They actively prevented me from meeting with the TRC in February 2023, which probably slowed the TRC investigators’ comprehension of my Korean Adoption Agency KSS (Korea Social Service) given that at that point, I knew more about KSS than any other Adoptee on the planet.
Ask yourselves - why would a supposed Adoptee Rights org, DKRG, with a primary focus on Holt and KSS, block out the ONE person who knew the absolute most about KSS? As most know, Paperslip is the only website by and for KSS Adoptees on the planet and I’ve done groundbreaking research into KSS since 2018. Does it make sense that the most knowledgable KSS Adoptee - who co-founded Paperslip, the only KSS Adoptee led organization about KSS - was actively prevented from participating in the TRC movement by DKRG, a group whose primary focus was Holt and KSS?
Ironically the TRC Interim Report of March 26th, 2025 is filled with evidence that I / Paperslip have enabled KSS Adoptees to obtain since 2021, a year and a half before DKRG was even formed. Yet I / Paperslip have never once been acknowledged by DKRG because they need all attention and credit for themselves. So it’s funny to see DKRG now pretending to be all about “UNITY”. Those of us who have been around the block know better than to believe that DKRG prioritizes “UNITY” over CONTROL.
Ironically, having had no argument, DKRG blocked me from all TRC related online groups on December 7th, 2022, the same day that the TRC investigation into Overseas Adoption began.
This was devastating as I had just come back from filming with SBS in Korea the hour-long documentary about my case, which revealed how my investigation into my and my twin's switch cases led to the reunion of a Korean birth father with his real twin daughters.
When it was released on December 24th, 2022, this SBS documentary about my and my twin's switch cases prominently brought Switching to the attention of the S. Korean public for the first time.