South Korea’s truth commission launches probe into foreign adoptions

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea will probe into the conditions of hundreds of South Korean adoptees living in Europe and the US who claim their origins were fabricated or concealed during the mid- to late-20th century child export frenzy. As discontentover shattered family ties rises and now-adult children demand government attention, Thursday's decision kickstartswhat may be dubbed as South Korea's most extensive investigation into overseas adoptions.The largest adoption diaspora in the world is thought to be the adopted South Korean population.

Roughly, 200,000 South Koreans, primarilygirls, were adopted abroad in the past 60 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the majority were sent to live with white parents in the US and Europe.

The commission has decidedto look into 34 adoptees who were taken to Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and the US between the 1960s and the early 1990s following a meeting on Tuesday, the BBC reported.The adoptees claim that false documentation and dishonest methods were used to unfairly separate them from their families.

The inquiry will likely take shape over the coming months as the commission considers whether to approve the applications submitted after August. According to commission official Park Young-il, similar cases would likely be combined to expedite the investigations. Numerous complaints allege negligence and a failure to exercise due diligence in the separationof numerous children from their families during lax government oversight, according to the applications, which cite a wide range of grievances.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: