Adopted Koreans in Sweden and Scandinavia
When discussing diaspora and the movement of peoples across continents, it is easy to forget about the hundreds of thousands—even millions—of international adoptees that contribute to large-scale migrations; indeed, it is the one group that is often overlooked in the analysis of disparate countries. Since the mid-20th century, over 200,000 Korean children have been sent overseas to at least twenty different Western states for international adoption; in fact, among the leading countries, Korea is the nation that has sent the largest number of international adoptees in the world. Much of this phenomenon is a direct result of the Korean War: Adoption was originally seen as a solution for the growing number of orphans, as well as a way to confront the immediate aftermath of the war. In 1961, however, a special adoption law was passed in South Korea that created an efficient and large exporting structure, and many Korean children were sent to North America, Europe and Australia. Although majority of the adoptees reside in the United States, a considerable number of Korean babies were sent to Scandinavia—here, they constitute the second largest number of Korean adoptees, according to Tobias Hübinette, PhD in Korean Studies from Stockholm University. Sweden in particular, as the country with the highest rate of international adoptions in the world (compared to its population), accounts for over 9,000 individuals. These numbers are even more remarkable when one considers that the adopted Koreans in Sweden (and Scandinavia) also account for almost all the ethnic Korean population in the region. In these countries however, where ethnic diversity is not as varied as the populations in North America or the rest of Europe, these adopted Koreans face a complex struggle for identity, one that transcends their current borders and their lost, forgotten homeland. The narratives of adopted Koreans in this region do not only call into question what it means to be Korean, but also what it means to be part of a larger network of migration. Their stories are ones that are transnational and, more importantly, deeply personal, as many often try to return to Korea to become reunited with their birth families and their sense of past.
Further Reading and References:
KOREA WITH EMPIRE: RESISTING, CONTESTING, AND APPROPRIATING TRANSNATIONAL
UNIVERSALS–Korean Diasporas: Experiences of Ethnicity
http://web.sas.upenn.edu/korea-empire2016/category/korean-diasporas-experiences-of-ethnicity/
Eleana Kim. “Wedding Citizenship and Culture: Korean
Adoptees and the Global Family of Korea.” Social Text 21, no. 1 (2003):
57-81.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/41637
Hübinette T, ‘The adoption issue in Korea: diaspora politics
in the age of globalisation’, Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies 12, pp
141–53, 2001
http://www.tobiashubinette.se/sweden_and_adoption.pdf
Hübinette, Tobias. “Adopted Koreans and the Development of Identity in the ‘Third Space.’” Adoption & Fostering 28, no. 1 (April 2004): 16–24.
Eleana J. Kim. ADOPTED TERRITORY: TRANSNATIONAL KOREAN ADOPTEES AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, (2010), 344 pages, 978-082234
Yngvesson, B. (2007). Refiguring kinship in the space of
adoption. Anthropological Quarterly, 80(2), 561-579.
https://search.proquest.com/pqrlalumni/docview/216476488/EC26AAECA3FE4AF1PQ/11
Kim, E. (2007). Our adoptee, our alien: Transnational adoptees as specters of foreignness and family in south korea. Anthropological Quarterly, 80(2), 497-531. https://search.proquest.com/pqrlalumni/docview/216487203/EC26AAECA3FE4AF1PQ/16
PARK, HYEON-SOOK. 2015. Korean adoptees in sweden: Have they lost their first language completely? Applied Psycholinguistics 36, (4) (07): 773-797, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1686685928
Website Links, Articles, and Films:
Embassy of Sweden in Seoul on Korean Adoptions in Sweden:
“I am a Korean Adoptee”—A First-Hand Account:
https://mundusjournalism2015.weebly.com/stories/i-am-a-korean-adoptee
Korean Adoptee Looking for Birth Mother:
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/10/119_257209.html
Assisting Swedish Koreans in Finding Their Roots:
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3037085
Korean Adoptees Struggle For Records Access:
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20151103001182
The Adopted Korean Foundation in Sweden:
http://www.akf.nu/
Swedish Korean Film Susanne
Brink’s Arirang (1991):
http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8bae55a0
Director Malene Choi Jensen on her film The Return, on Korean Adoptees:
http://atkmagazine.com/2018/05/14/hot-docs-interview-malene-choi-jensen-the-return/
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3047999
In film by director Deann Liem, Korean Adoptees search for
their history:
https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/interview-new-film-korean-adoptees-search-roots-redefine-family-tree
Youtube and Video Links:
Interview with Swedish Korean Adoptees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyko_WFKy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZTyXw7FakM
Swedish Documentary on Korean Adoptees (In Swedish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLIDTBUEgCs
“Where Are You From?”—Danish Korean Adoption Stories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvG50vaT2Ow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maJwkByC3WY
General Introduction to Korean international adoptees’
search for relatives
https://youtu.be/sFNVLQuHaw0
Malene Choi Jensen’s 2018 film on Korean Adoptees, The Return:
https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/return
Geographies of Kinship – The Korean Adoption Story, a film by Director Deann Borshay Liem: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/453281398/geographies-of-kinship-the-korean-adoption-story