THE MISSING CHILDREN OF KSS.

DOES THE S. KOREAN GOVERNMENT CARE ABOUT THESE DEAD AND MISSING CHILDREN?

See larger PHOTOS of just SIX of KSS’ likely thousands of MISSING children and descriptions below this section.

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Below:
Six of the thousands of MISSING children who likely died at KSS in Seoul — and at KSS’ many Feeder Orphanages, between 1964-2012.

Who will speak for the dead?

KSS에서 사망한 것으로 추정되는 수천 명의 실종 아동.

그 가운데 드러난 여섯 명의 아이들.

소리 없이 스러져 간 이 아이들을 위해 누가 목소리를 낼 것인가?

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On Thursday, October 22nd, I visited the Seoul office of the Third Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 3) to discuss my and my deceased twin sister’s separate switch cases, and to request an EX-OFFICIO investigation into child deaths at KSS.

We presented a banner with the photos of 6 children who are either known or believed to have died at KSS, and then replaced by other children. Amongst these six is my deceased twin sister.

TRC 3’s Commissioner and Investigators confirmed that they are NOT in possession of KSS’ Death Books, nor were they made aware of them during TRC 2.

The fact that TRC 2 is NOT in possession of KSS’ death books — which I personally witnessed at KSS in 2019 — is directly a result of my being pushed out of the TRC movement by the Danish Korean Rights Group (DKRG) on December 7th, 2022. I was actively prevented from meeting with TRC 2 investigators in February 2023 by DKRG and pushed out of the TRC movement, likely due to DKRG’s desire to be the only activists in the press.

Thus, the TRC 2 Commission was NEVER MADE AWARE of KSS’ Death Books, because DKRG did not know about them. The only person who knew about them — me — was prevented from participating in TRC 2 by DKRG.

KSS’ Death Books — with records of decades of deceased children — may now be lost to time, directly as a consequence of DKRG’s egregious actions.

NCRC says it “does not know” if they are in possession of KSS’ Death Books.

DKRG strictly controlled access to the TRC investigation, particularly during TRC 2. For no reason, on December 7th, 2022, DKRG blocked me from its Facebook groups, through which it shared information about TRC. At that time, I had submitted my TRC 2 case through DKRG.

After blocking me from their groups, TRC 2 ironically then accepted my case as one of the first 34 to be investigated. DKRG then assigned FALSE CREDIT for my KSS K-Number research on January 1st, 2023 to (then) DKRG supporter and NON-Adoptee Bastiaan Flikweert, whose media affiliates still appear to be flagrantly attempting to take false credit for my work. There is only one person on this planet who decoded KSS’ K-Numbers, and that person is me. I did this years long research in the context of trying to locate my deceased twin sister through KSS’ K-Number system. This work was witnessed online by hundreds of KSS Adoptees who are members of a large KSS Adoptee forum, and this work is officially Copyrighted.

After DKRG blocked me from their groups in order to prevent me from receiving information about TRC 2, assigning false credit for my work to a NON-Adoptee, and then preventing me from meeting with a TRC 2 Investigator after I had already booked a flight to Korea to do so, I withdrew my TRC 2 case in March 2023.

I had to wait for three years to resubmit my case to TRC 3 in March 2026.

Today, myself and another KSS Adoptee (not pictured) who was also blocked by DKRG since 2023 also discussed with the TRC 3 Commissioner the extensive gatekeeping of supposed representative “Adoptee Rights” groups such as DKRG which kept myself and MANY others excluded from the TRC 2 and TRC 3 investigation.

The TRC 3 Commissioner and Investigators say they are committed to better communicating directly with Adoptees during TRC 3.

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CONTENT WARNING:
MURDER.

What do you call it when S. Korea’s dictators were determined to shove as many children as possible into an overcrowded and understaffed Overseas Adoption system into which it was well known by the private Korean Adoption Agencies — such as KSS — that thousands of children were dying from sickness and neglect, and then keeping those deaths SECRET for decades?

I CALL IT MURDER.

THERE IS NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR MURDER.

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In 2021, KSS’ Former Director told me in the presence of an Associated Press (AP) journalist — as my non-journalist documentary filmmaker friend was filming — that “Switching happened all the time.”

Most (though not all) birth parents who attempted to pick up their children from an orphanage or Adoption Agency were either extorted or thwarted in their efforts by those who profited from the SALE of their children abroad.

If switching was happening all of the time, then likely thousands of children were becoming too sick to travel and were DYING all of the time.

THIS HAS BEEN KEPT SECRET FOR DECADES BY S. KOREAN ADOPTION AGENCIES, THE S. KOREAN GOVERNMENT, WESTERN ADOPTION AGENCIES, AND WESTERN GOVERNMENTS.

I know that KSS kept records of child deaths in their system — I saw KSS’ death books in 2019 at KSS’ Post Adoption Services building.

WHERE ARE THESE KSS DEATH BOOKS NOW?

NCRC says they do not know.

TRC 3 says that they never saw them at KSS.

Above: Still from a filmed meeting at KSS’ Post Adoption Services building with former KSS Director in 2021. At this meeting, which was attended by an AP journalist and a non-AP affiliated documentary filmmaker, KSS’ former Director said that “Switching happened all the time”.

This revelation — along with my years long investigation into Systemic Switching, and the around one dozen switched Adotpees whom I referred to an AP reporter who was in attendance at this meeting — became the catalyst behind the 2024 FRONTLINE / AP documentary, “South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning”.

KSS’ former Director also confirmed on camera during this meeting the first digit KSS K-Number codes which I had decoded between 2020-2021 as part of my investigation into my deceased twin sister’s switch case. She also confirmed my discovery that KSS K-Numbers repeated in the 1970s.

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TRC 3 SHOULD OPEN AN EX-OFFICIO INVESTIGATION INTO SECRET CHILD DEATHS AT KSS BETWEEN 1964-2012.

I know of ways to determine which and how many children died at KSS. This was NOT brought to light during TRC 2.

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“Classic Switching” — according to the definition which I codified in 2018 — occurred when any “Child A” died, became too sick to travel, or was picked up by her or his birth parents from an orphanage or adoption agency prior to her or his intended adoption to the West — and any “Child B” was sent in “Child A’s” place.

Most Switched Adoptees — the innumerable “Child B’s” in these switch cases — are thus left not only never knowing what their own REAL identity is, but also never knowing what happened to the original “Child A’s” in their respective switch cases. It is inevitable that countless thousands of original “Child A’s” died or became too sick to travel.

One of the thousands of children who died nameless and forgotten in KSS’ system was my likely twin sister, “Baby A”.

Yet the S. Korean Government has never investigated their SECRET and HIDDEN DEATHS.

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Below are just a FEW examples of the countless “Child A’s” in KSS Adoptee’s switch cases whose fates remain UNKNOWN.

The countless thousands of “Child A’s” were replaced by the countless thousands of “Child B’s” in KSS switch cases. While the “Child B’s” survived to be adopted to the West, WHAT HAPPENED to ALL of the “Child A’s”?

My likely twin “Baby A” is just ONE of an unknown number of “Child A’s” who DIED and were DISAPPEARED by KSS and its Feeder Orphanages between 1964-2012.

The fates of these countless “Child A’s” remain UNKNOWN.

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Below:
My own likely twin sister, whom I call “Baby A”. I presume we were both born in Summer 1975 and that she likely died at KSS between late 1975 - early 1976, based on written evidence. Her exact fate is currently UNKNOWN.

Below:
A girl born in August 1975, presumably in Gwangju (Jeolla Province), and later transferred in September 1975 to KSS in Seoul. Presumed deceased by at least late January 1976, but her exact date and cause of presumed death is currently UNKNOWN. KSS sent another child in her place for adoption.

Below:
A child who has recently been discovered to have died at Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan in June 1973. She was meant to be processed for adoption through KSS. KSS sent another child in her place for adoption.

Below:
A female child whose birthdate is April 1976. This child was processed through Korea Social Service (KSS) and the child was supposed to arrive in Denmark in Summer 1976.
Her death at KSS was confirmed by TRC 2 in 2025. KSS sent another child in her place for adoption.

Below:
A female child born between 1972-1974.
Presumably this child was processed through Korea Social Service (KSS), though was not likely adopted.
Fate UNKNOWN. KSS sent another child in her place for adoption.

Below:
A female child whose birthdate is UNKNOWN. Presumably this child was processed through Korea Social Service (KSS) in the 1970s or 1980s.
Fate UNKNOWN. KSS sent another child in her place for adoption.

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If you are a switched KSS Adoptee, and you would like your “Child A” photograph included here (the one that is NOT of the REAL you) please email us your photo, information, and explanation to: paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

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Switch cases always involve at least TWO children.

We want to know — what happened to the original children in KSS switch cases — many of whom likely DIED without any acknowledgement?

How many KSS children are MISSING?

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Overcrowded / understaffed social and child welfare facilities became death traps for children, where disease spread very quickly — especially during peak years of overseas adoption, such as 1975 and 1976 (in the decade of the 1970s).

The 1980s saw even higher numbers of overseas adoptions.

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In 2018 when I first learned I was switched, I began to find and connect with many switched Adoptees from the mid to late 1970s — several of whom were switched KSS Adoptees to Denmark.

While I am a switched US KSS Adoptee, I organized a meeting with three Danish KSS switched Adoptees in Denmark in Fall 2018. My organization of around 12 international switched Adoptees (most, but not all of whom were adopted through KSS) to submit our cases to TRC 2 on December 20th, 2020 — two full years BEFORE the official TRC 2 investigation into Overseas Adoption began in December 2022 — and to take our individual and collective cases to international media is a major reason why Systemic Switching has now been exposed around the world.

My research into Systemic Switching became the backbone for prominent international reporting in both S. Korea (SBS, 2022) and the US (FRONTLINE / AP, 2024) about systemic issues within the S. Korean adoption system — particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when overseas adoption from S. Korea was at its absolute peak.

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The letter below, written by Denmark’s Adoption Center (AC) —which was KSS’ Danish Partner Western Adoption Agency — to the adoptive parents of a Danish KSS switched Adoptee who arrived to Denmark in the Summer of 1976 illustrates that Dysentery (historically called “Shigellosis”) was going around at KSS in the Summer of 1976.

Dysentery (Shigellosis) was the cause of death of the original “Child A” in this Danish KSS switched Adoptee’s case.

The letter states (BOLDS and blue highlighting mine):

“Aarhus (Denmark), August 27, 1976

FLN/TV

Dear Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]

We would like to send you our warmest congratulations on bringing home your little girl from Korea, and we enclosed the Korean adoption papers, of which the Adoption Center has a copy and a copy will be sent to the Vestsjælland County Social Center.

We assume that you have received copies of the child's papers from Korea from [redacted] County, including a medical examination (Medical Report), which it would be wise to bring along the first time you take your child to the doctor.

We hope everything goes well and look forward to hearing from you at your convenience.

Sincerely,

[redacted signature]

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In a few of the Korean children who arrived in Denmark on July 16 and 27, (1976), dysentery has been diagnosed, which has led to the hospitalization of several of the children.

We feel it is most appropriate to inform you of this, as it cannot be entirely ruled out that your child may also be carrying dysentery from the orphanage in Korea.

Therefore, if you notice diarrhea, possibly in combination with a fever, please contact your doctor, who will then take the necessary further steps.

We have been informed by medical authorities that the disease is harmless to healthy children with a natural immune system, but despite this, we would still advise that if the child has abnormal diarrhea, you contact your doctor and discuss the possibility of potential hospitalization.

In that case, your own doctor is welcome to contact our office for further information.

Sincerely,

[redacted signature]”

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During a visit to KSS’ former Post Adoption Services building in 2021, the former Director of KSS told me in the presence of an Associated Press (AP) reporter and a non-AP documentary filmmaker (who filmed the meeting for me independently) in 2021 that “Switching happened all the time.”

I had reached out to an Associated Press (AP) reporter in January 2021 to request that a story be written about Systemic Switching, which I had been investigating in the context of my own switch case since 2018, and in the context of my likely twin Baby A’s separate switch case since 2020. My story was ground zero for what later became the FRONTLINE / AP reporting on the S. Korean adoption industry, which has spanned decades from the 1950s to the present. FRONTLINE and AP, despite being well aware of my years of research, egregiously and unethically failed to credit me at all in the 2024 documentary. AP did, however, publish a significant story in 2024 about my investigation into my and my likely twin sister’s separate switch cases, and there is a related interactive which highlights my story. My twin’s separate switch case was too sensitive to be published about in depth at that time.

Notably, the primary original reporting in the FRONTLINE / AP documentary is about Systemic Switching, which is the major piece of its reporting which the journalists got directly from my investigation.

As for my likely twin sister “Baby A”, I have no idea if she was even buried after she presumably died at KSS. Her body was likely burnt to a crisp through cremation at a location in S. Korea which I still cannot ascertain. What remained of my likely twin sister in terms of her paper orphan identity was then deeply hidden inside a folder with the paper orphan identity of a different infant female, and KSS literally buried the memory of my twin in its filing cabinets for what was meant to be forever. I consider this to be MURDER. I only happened to find my likely twin’s switch file by accident while looking for my own real identity at KSS in 2019. For over a year, I believed that my likely twin sister’s KSS photo was of me. It was only a Dysmorphologist’s analysis in 2020 which concluded that Baby A was not me which led me to the devastating realization that I had likely had a twin sister at KSS who had probably — based on the medical file evidence — passed away there, and whom KSS ultimately replaced for adoption with another female child. There are thus four different girls in two separate switch cases, related to “my” 1975 / 1976 KSS adoption case.

My research into my and my likely twin’s separate switch cases has led me to do years of original research into KSS’ various numbering systems for children. Ultimately this research has led me to a way to estimate how many children are MISSING from KSS’ system in the specific time frame in which we were both processed at KSS.

I codified the definition of Systemic Switching in 2018 to be when any “Child A” either died, was too sick to travel, or was picked up from the orphanage or adoption agency prior to her or his intended adoption to the West, and was subsequently replaced for adoption by any Child B. When the adoptive parents were not informed of this substitution, this is what I call Systemic Switching.

Switching vs. Replacement:

*In cases where adoptive parents were notified that they would be receiving a substitute child, I call this REPLACEMENT — NOT SWITCHING. Replacement is a decidedly more honest practice than Switching. Hopefully in Replacement cases, the replacement child was sent to her or his adoptive country accompanied with her or his own actual documents — and not those of the original child who had been originally “matched” (through proxy adoption) to her or his eventual adoptive parents — as in Systemic Switching.

I organized around one dozen switched Adoptees to submit summaries of their cases informally to the head of the Second Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 2) on December 18th, 2020, preceding the formal TRC 2 investigation of Overseas Adoption by two full years. I thus became the first Korean Adoptee in history to submit any cases of Korean Adoptees to any TRC Commission. While this informal action did not initiate the later formal investigation into Overseas Adoption, this is how TRC 2 first became aware of Systemic Switching. TRC 2 acknowledged Systemic Switching as a human rights violation on March 26th, 2025 in the TRC 2 Interim Report. This is in large part thanks to the organizing of mostly KSS Switched Adoptees from the US, Denmark, and the Netherlands which I had undertaken since 2018.

I referred almost ALL of the switched Adoptees I know to the AP journalist, between 2021-2024. ALL of the switched Adoptees covered by the 2024 FRONTLINE / AP documentary, print articles, and interactive were my direct referrals to the journalists — in addition to numerous other (non-switched) Adoptees and one non-Adoptee subject referral.

It should be noted that Switching was not at all confined to just KSS, and was likely practiced at ALL Korean Adoption Agencies throughout its history. The Western Adoption Agencies were fully aware of this practice and they collaborated in it for decades. However, I believe that the way in which KSS switched children was highly specific, and took a few different forms, only two of which I know and understand. I do not believe that all of the Korean Adoption Agencies practiced Systemic Switching in precisely the same way. I am only familiar with how my Korean Adoption Agency KSS practiced Systemic Switching. I know for a fact that KSS was unlike the other Korean Adoption Agencies in how it operated — that, I believe, is because of the particular history of KSS’ founder.

In acknowledging Systemic Switching as a human rights violation in its March 26th, 2025 Interim Report, TRC 2 used part of the more complete definition of Systemic Switching which I had codified in 2018, based on my own and others’ switch cases. I stated this definition in the SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) documentary about my case, which was released in Korea on December 24th, 2022. Therefore the fact that I codified the definition of Systemic Switching before it was officially acknowledged as a human rights violation by TRC 2 on March 26th, 2025 — and was reported on by FRONTLINE / AP reported in September / October 2024 — is a matter of official, permanent record.

TRC 2’s definition of Systemic Switching actually is not as complete as mine, as TRC 2’s definition omits such instances in switch cases where children became too sick to travel:

From the TRC 2 Interim Report, published March 26th, 2025. Page 3:

The text above reads:

“Deliberate Identity Substitution: If a child in the adoption process passed away or was reclaimed by their biological family, agencies would substitute another child’s identity to expedite the adoption, severely violating adoptees’ rights to their true identities.”

Note that TRC 2’s definition of Systemic Switching omits such switch cases in which any original “Child A” was too sick to travel, and was thus substituted with any Child B. Sickness was just as important a factor in switching as death — indeed, both sickness and death played a large role in my likely twin’s separate switch case.

Still, it’s highly significant that TRC 2 acknowledged Systemic Switching, and did so using more or less the definition of Systemic Switching I had codified in 2018. My definition was primarily based on my investigation into my own and my likely twin Baby A’s separate switch cases, as well as my correspondence with other — mainly (but not all) KSS — switched Adoptees.

Due to Systemic Switching, many switched KSS Adoptees who were the Child B’s in their respective switch cases grew up with the orphan identities of the “Child A’s” in their switch cases — often including the KSS photographs of these “Child A’s”.

Many switched Adoptees grow up suspecting that they do not look like “their” KSS child photo. (Please note that I use the world “child” to include both infants and toddlers).

Switched Adoptees are thus left without their OWN “true” orphan identity. They are also left wondering what happened to the original “Child A” in their respective switch cases, whose KSS child photograph they often grow up being told is their own.

In the vast majority of switch cases, it remains UNKNOWN for decades — or forever — what happened to the likely thousands of “Child A’s” in these cases.

I believe that COUNTLESS THOUSANDS of children died or otherwise were disappeared within KSS’ pipeline for adoption, from 1964-2012.

What happened to the likely thousands of “Child A’s” in these switch cases? For the ones who died, how did they die? What happened to their bodies after they died?

And who, if anyone, remembers or memorializes them?

KSS’ former Director showed me “Death Books” in 2019, with photos of children who had died at KSS, and the dates that they died written next to their pictures. However, NCRC says that they “do not know” if these “Death Books” were transferred from KSS to NCRC during the July 19th, 2025 transfer of all former Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC.

I did not have the opportunity to tell TRC 2 about KSS’ “Death Books” after DKRG pushed me out of the movement in order to attempt to take credit for my research into KSS K-Numbers.

KSS’ former Director told me in 2019 that children who died at KSS were cremated. However, the specifics of how the bodies of children who died at KSS — and at KSS’ numerous “Feeder Orphanages” remain UNKNOWN.