section_path: Discovery of human rights abuses/Adoption and human trafficking
section_name: Adoption and human trafficking
paragraph_text: Adoption and human trafficking
  
  From the mid-to-late 20th century, about 200,000 South Korean children, mostly girls, were sent abroad for adoption. It is now believed that they constitute the largest diasporic adoptee population in the world. An investigation by the Associated Press discovered direct evidence that Brothers Home organized the adoption of 19 children from 1979 to 1986. The AP further revealed that six U.S. adoption agencies— Holt International, Children's Home Society of Minnesota, Dillon International, Children's Home Society of California, Catholic Social Services, and Spence-Chapin —had received adoptees from Brothers.
  
  The European countries included Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. Most of the Korean girls were not real orphans and had living biological parents, but their status was intentionally faked to show that they were orphans and put on adoption in foreign countries for money. The Korea Welfare Services, Eastern Social Welfare Society, Korea Social Service and Holt Children's Services were the adoption agencies involved in the trafficking of the girls. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began investigating the scandal in 2022. The military leaders were linked to the agencies' board members, and they wanted to establish closer links with the West and decrease South Korea's population. South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System reported on the case of the Korean girl Kim Yooree who was taken away from her biological Korean parents and adopted to a French couple where she was raped and molested by her French adopted father. Across Australia, Europe and the United States, the majority-female Korean adoptees asked for an investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the child trafficking scandal. Holt Children's Service was sued by a Korean adoptee in the US for compensation.
  
  From the mid-to-late 20th century, about 200,000 South Korean children, mostly girls, were sent abroad for adoption. It is now believed that they constitute the largest diasporic adoptee population in the world. An investigation by the Associated Press discovered direct evidence that Brothers Home organized the adoption of 19 children from 1979 to 1986. The AP further revealed that six U.S. adoption agencies— Holt International, Children's Home Society of Minnesota, Dillon International, Children's Home Society of California, Catholic Social Services, and Spence-Chapin —had received adoptees from Brothers.
  
  The European countries included Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. Most of the Korean girls were not real orphans and had living biological parents, but their status was intentionally faked to show that they were orphans and put on adoption in foreign countries for money. The Korea Welfare Services, Eastern Social Welfare Society, Korea Social Service and Holt Children's Services were the adoption agencies involved in the trafficking of the girls. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began investigating the scandal in 2022. The military leaders were linked to the agencies' board members, and they wanted to establish closer links with the West and decrease South Korea's population. South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System reported on the case of the Korean girl Kim Yooree who was taken away from her biological Korean parents and adopted to a French couple where she was raped and molested by her French adopted father. Across Australia, Europe and the United States, the majority-female Korean adoptees asked for an investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the child trafficking scandal. Holt Children's Service was sued by a Korean adoptee in the US for compensation.