South Korea releases long-awaited report into overseas adoptions of thousands of children

Larissa Dickson has spent more than four decades knowing a vital part of her history has been missing.

But now, as health complications worsen, the Perth mother feels that time to uncover the truth is running out.

"There was always a feeling that you never quite fit in," Larissa recalls.

"It's such a strong part of my identity that I didn't know how to fill."

In the decades after the Korean War, South Korea earned the reputation as the world's biggest baby exporter, with some 220,000 children sent to Western nations.

One infamous adoption agency, Eastern Social Welfare Society, reportedly sent about 3,600 babies to Australia.

While many adoptive parents believed they were giving an unwanted child a second chance, the truth revealed in recent years was much darker.

Many children were sent away with fraudulent documentation, littered with lies about the circumstances that led to their adoption.

Other children were outright stolen from their parents: some while playing in the front yard, others taken from hospitals soon after being born.

The search for answers has been met with obstruction and obfuscation.

On Wednesday, after a three-year investigation, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its most substantive report to date.

It has delivered a scathing assessment of past governments for failing to protect vulnerable children, and blamed them for a system rife with fraud and abuse.

"The government prioritised inter-country adoption as a cost-effective alternative to strengthening domestic child welfare policies," the report reads.

The commission also said adoption agencies had "facilitated large-scale, inter-country adoptions with minimal procedural oversight".

"The identities and family information of many children were lost, falsified, or fabricated," the report said.

"After being sent abroad, adoptees were left without appropriate legal protections."

For Larissa, the report's recommendations were an important win for the "brave individuals" who have fought for transparency and justice.

"I am overwhelmed and quite emotional at the findings," she said.

"I now feel some hope, both for myself and my fellow Korean adoptees worldwide. May access to our birthright be unhindered."

But for many adoptees, the search for truth will be a long journey, with increasing pressure for recipient countries like Australia to investigate their part in the scandal.

'Why didn't they want me?'

Like many Korean Australian adoptees, Larissa Dickson grew up with conflicting emotions.

She knew her Australian parents loved her dearly, but growing up in suburban Perth in the 1980s, with mostly white children, Larissa said she felt as if she had never quite fit in.

Racism was also much more acceptable, she adds.

"There was always this kind of dual identity," she recalls.

"Someone didn't want me. Why didn't they want me?

"But then also knowing that I had loving parents who did want me but looked so very different."

Larissa's adoption papers simply stated she was abandoned, with no information about her birth parents at all.

But her suspicions grew as reports emerged of fabricated adoption processes.

Last year, she flew to Seoul and forced a meeting with the adoption agency Eastern Social Welfare Society, telling them she would camp out in their lobby until they met with her.

The meeting proved to be a success, with a small treasure trove of information being released, including the name of her birth mum, grandparents and aunts.

It also included the surname of her birth dad.

"I was just astonished," she recalls.

"Why was my birth certificate left with no names?"

Further discrepancies were also uncovered.

Her baby milestone checks at the adoption agency were obviously written at the same time, instead of months apart, she says, observing they all had the same pen ink and handwriting.

This, she believes, was proof the agency had not done any due diligence and had wanted to adopt her out as soon as possible.

And finally, in the agency files was a note by her birth mother, in which she wished her daughter a wonderful life.

It did not appear she was simply abandoned.

"It really just makes you question everything surrounding the adoption paperwork and whether any of it is the truth," Larissa says.

"I believed growing up that I'd been abandoned and that is questionable with the information Eastern had.

"It's really quite shaken me."

Government failed to protect children

For the past three years, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been investigating the scandal, with particular focus on 367 adoptees who were sent overseas between 1964 and 1999.

The report, released on Wednesday, primarily focused on 56 of the complainants due to time constraints.

It found there was a lack of proper consent for adoption, children's reports were fabricated and screening processes of adoptive parents were inadequate and rushed.

There was also pressure on adoption agencies to meet the high demand for Korean babies.

It concluded the South Korean government failed to protect children and recommended an official apology to those affected.

It also called for "remedies" for victims and a commitment from adoption agencies to "restore adoptees' rights".

One complainant, American citizen Mary Bowers, said the report was "just the beginning" and the government needed to do more to release adoption records.

"To those uncovering the truth of their pasts, you are not alone — we stand with you and we will continue to push for justice and accountability," she said in a statement.

Han Boonyoung is the co-representative of the Danish Korean Rights Group, an organisation that was instrumental in securing the commission's investigation.

While she said she had hoped the report would uncover the truth of more individual cases, she said its findings were "significant" nonetheless.

She now hoped the search for answers would become easier once all four adoption agencies were amalgamated with a government department, which will happen in June.

"We cannot be so naïve that everyone's going to do the right thing," she said.

"We'll see. It's hard not to be a sceptic or realistic."

The Australia United States Korean Rights Group (AUKRG) also responded with cautious optimism.

"Today marks a truly historic moment, but it is a start — there is more to be done," it said in a statement.

"A broader international investigation is urgently needed."

Larissa still seeking answers

While adoptees wait to see how South Korea will respond to the report, many in Australia are now questioning what state or federal governments knew at the time.

Larissa's parents have been very supportive of her search for truth, watching documentaries and reading news reports about the issue.

"I can cope with the pain, but what you don't want is the child to suffer pain," Larissa's father, Peter Dickson, said.

"That was the last of our intentions."

He said he'd welcome an investigation into what Australia knew at the time.

"We gave permission to the West Australian department to act on our behalf, so we'd expect them to do every bit of due diligence to ensure that child is suitable for adoption," he said.

Meanwhile, Larissa's search for answers continues.

Despite receiving the names of her birth family, she has been unable to find them.

She wants to do a DNA test, but returning to South Korea again is a "mammoth effort", as she suffers from gastrointestinal dysmotility, which impacts her nervous system.

For now, she also wants Australia to investigate its role in the fraudulent adoption system.

"Just because it happened in the 70s and 80s, I believe that Australia still has a responsibility," she said.