The Small "c" in Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) - formerly Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS) Case / K-Numbers stands for "Corea".

For anyone adopted through Eastern, did you know that the small "c" in your Case / K-Number stands for "Corea"?

We found this out from NCRC in 2021 during an in-person visit. During this visit, we informed NCRC in person about the unique first digit encoding system of the K-Numbers of KSS (Korea Social Service) — which we had figured out through our original research in 2020. NCRC did not even know about KSS’ uniquely encoded K-Number system. During the course of our original research, we had also briefly looked at Eastern case numbers, and we wondered what the small “c” stood for. When we asked about this at NCRC, NCRC informed us that “c” stood for “Corea” — and told us the story of how “Corea” came to become “Korea” under Japanese occupation.

*It should be noted that ONLY KSS had first digit encoding in its K-Number system. Paperslip was the FIRST to look at the K-Number system of ANY Korean Adoption Agency systematically, and to have entirely decoded their system. Holt Adoptees have since followed suit in examining Holt K-Numbers — starting around 2024. We have freely shared our own information about how to conduct such research with a Holt Adoptee who is now (as of 2025) conducting research into Holt K-Numbers. This Holt Adoptee was recently featured in the film “K-Number” — in the film, she mentions noticing a “pattern” amongst K-Numbers. However, Paperslip’s K-Number research into KSS K-Numbers preceded any other research into the systematic numbering of children by Korean Adoption Agencies. We are glad to have inspired the research of others into the K-Number systems of their own Korean Adoption Agencies.

Again - ONLY KSS had first digit encoding in its K-Numbers. NONE of the other major Korean Adoption Agencies have first digit encoding in their case / K-Numbers — Holt Korea, Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) - formerly Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS), Korea Welfare Society (KWS) / formerly Social Welfare Society (SWS). The only “pattern” within the case / K-Numbers of other major Korean Adoption Agencies is SEQUENTALITY — and the changing style of numbers over time.

This is NOT the same as the unique first digit encoding of KSS K-Numbers.

"Korea" used to be spelled "Corea", but during Japanese occupation, Japan could not stand for "C" to come before "J" in the alphabet.

So Japan changed "Corea" to "Korea".

But in Eastern / ECWS / ESWS documents, the case / K-Number style is YYc-1234. The "c" stands for "corea".

While there is some historical debate about whether or not the “Corea” to “Korea” story is true, we think it’s pretty clear that “c” at least stands for “Corea” in an Eastern K-Number.

According to a Paperslip contributor:

”Eastern’s Founder Kim Deuk Hwang was undoubtedly aware of this (“Corea” being changed to “Korea”). He was four years old when Japan occupied Joseon and later became an officer in Manchuria and a senior historian.”

Related Links:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/720360267339216

https://korelimited.com/blogs/korelimited/korea-or-corea?srsltid=AfmBOoqUAUhryS0p1CV7SligPaJP0k3YJh1egYyMpMv2180RX-_44dVp

https://ko.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B9%80%EB%93%9D%ED%99%A9

https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/defense/725194.html#cb

https://m.pressian.com/m/pages/articles/128915