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Investigation into adoptee's human rights abuses case ends after suspect dies

Published: 07 Apr. 2026, 06:00

A woman reads nametags of adoptees at a monument in Paju, Gyeonggi, on June 14, 2025. [YONHAP]

A victim of human rights abuses in Korea's past intercountry adoption process filed a criminal complaint against the adoption worker involved in her case, but the investigation ended after the worker died.

Marie Louise Wang, whose Korean name is Choi Jin-suk, filed a police complaint in May 2025 against a worker surnamed Kim at the volunteer organization responsible for her adoption on charges including falsification of official documents and child abduction.

But after Kim was found to have died, police decided in August 2025 not to refer the case to prosecutors.

“The person in whose name the victim’s [adoption] documents were prepared has died,” police wrote in the nonreferral notice sent to Wang. “It is also impossible to identify the employees of the organization [at that time] because the staff roster from then is no longer available due to the expiration of the records retention period.”

The notice also stated that “more than 10 years have passed since the victim was adopted overseas, meaning the statute of limitations has expired and there is no right to prosecute.”

“It is hard to accept that no one will be held responsible for the harm that I suffered during the adoption process,” Wang said. She asked police to convene an investigative review committee, but the case was closed in January, as there was no right to prosecute.

Wang was born in 1992 and sent to Denmark for adoption at the age of 3 months.

Part of the notice that Marie Louise Wang received from the Seoul Dobong Police Precinct in August 2025, informing her that her case will not be referred to prosecutors [JOONGANG ILBO]

Part of Marie Louise Wang’s adoption request form, which she received in 2023 from the agency that arranged her adoption [JOONGANG ILBO]

She filed the complaint after receiving her adoption request form from the agency that arranged her adoption in 2023.

Wang’s adoption request form, written by Kim, reads, “The birth mother believes the child has died,” and “The birth mother’s mother asked a doctor to send the child for adoption.”

“The fact that my birth mother believed I had died means the doctor lied to her,” Wang said. “The adoption agency also knew this and still turned a blind eye and sent me abroad for adoption.”

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a civic group, defined Korea’s past large-scale intercountry adoption practices as “state violence” in 2025, concluding that illegal practices had led to widespread human rights violations.

The commission drew criticism during its second term because it deliberated just 98 of 367 cases after two years and seven months of investigation. The commission launched its third term in March and plans to establish three investigation bureaus exclusively to handle intercountry adoption cases.

According to the commission, as of March 25, a total of 316 intercountry adoption cases have been filed in the month following the launch of its third term. That figure is expected to rise further because people living overseas who had not filed during the second term have begun submitting investigation applications.

Song Sang-kyo, the new chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, delivers his inaugural address at an inauguration ceremony at the commission’s conference room in Jung District, central Seoul, on March 4. [NEWS1]

“I will push legislation excluding criminal statutes of limitations and civil limitation periods for state violence crimes,” President Lee Jae Myung said during his visit to Jeju Island on Sunday.

“I also plan to file a complaint against the doctor believed to have told my birth mother that I had died,” Wang said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM CHANG-YONG [[email protected]]