Over at the Asia Pages, Jodi has a very thought-provoking piece on interracial adoption. Her post having sparked my curiosity, I did a quick search to see if there are cases of Koreans adopting non-Korean babies. I was (sorta) surprised to learn that it’s actually illegal for Korean nationals to adopt foreign babies. Or so said the people at Naver.com’s online knowledge bank. In a way, with so many local kids looking for a home, the adoption laws are perfectly understandable, although it’s still ironic that a country tagged as a “baby exporter” would ban imports. Anyway, I don’t take Naver.com as the word of God, so if any of you have more specific information concerning Korea’s adoption laws, let me know.
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If true, this is not surprising at all. Fits in perfectly with both Korean racial attitudes and the mercantilist/export-oriented economic system that, despite significant liberalization, still dominates the thinking of both the business sector and the government (regardless of political affiliation)
Allowing Koreans to adopt foreign children would be tantamount to sanctioned child abuse. Those poor kids would face a lifetime of “You just can’t understand the Korean mind/culture/emotion/han/jeong” FROM THEIR OWN FAMILY!
Not to mention being asked “Can you eat spicy food?” and told “you use chopsticks very well” at every meal their entire lives.
That discussion is thoughtful indeed, thanks for the pointer.
My non-thoughtful contribution:
well, if Korean parents adopt a ‘white’ baby, at least they’ll save a lot of money on plastic-surgery costs later on…