Rais wa Korea Kusini, Lee Jae Myung, ameomba radhi rasmi siku ya Alhamisi kwa niaba ya taifa lake kutokana na usimamizi mbovu wa programu za uasili wa watoto nje ya nchi ambazo zilikuwa zimejaa udanganyifu na ukiukaji wa haki za binadamu. Hatua hiyo inakuja miezi kadhaa baada ya Tume ya Ukweli na Maridhiano ya nchi hiyo kukiri kwa mara ya kwanza jukumu la serikali katika dosari hizo
Kupitia chapisho kwenye ukurasa wake wa Facebook, Rais Lee alisema anatoa “msamaha wa dhati na maneno ya faraja” kwa Wakorea walioasiliwa nje ya nchi pamoja na familia zao za kulea na za kuzaliwa
Rais Lee alieleza kuwa ripoti za Tume ya Ukweli na Maridhiano pamoja na maamuzi ya hivi karibuni ya mahakama yamebaini kuwepo kwa visa vya ukiukaji wa haki za binadamu katika mchakato wa uasili wa kimataifa. Alikiri kuwa serikali ilishindwa kutimiza wajibu wake, ingawa hakutaja kwa kina aina ya mapungufu hayo
Aidha, Rais Lee alisema moyo wake unasikitika anapofikiria “hofu, maumivu na mkanganyiko” waliopitia watoto wa Korea Kusini waliotumwa kuishi ughaibuni wakiwa wadogo. Aliwaagiza maafisa kuandaa mifumo ya kulinda haki za watoto wa kuasiliwa na kuwaunga mkono katika jitihada zao za kuwatafuta wazazi wao wa kuzaliwa
Korea Kusini imekuwa ikikabiliwa na shinikizo kubwa kushughulikia udanganyifu na manyanyaso yaliyogubika programu zake za uasili, hasa katika miaka ya 1970 na 1980, wakati ambapo maelfu ya watoto walikuwa wanapelekwa kuasiliwa kila mwaka
Wakorea wengi walioasiliwa nje ya nchi wamegundua kuwa nyaraka zao zilighushiwa ili waonekane kama yatima waliotelekezwa, huku wengine wakiondolewa kiholela, au hata kuibwa kutoka kwa familia zao za kuzaliwa
Katika ripoti ya kihistoria iliyotolewa Machi mwaka 2025, Tume ya Ukweli na Maridhiano ilihitimisha kuwa serikali ya Korea Kusini ilibeba jukumu la kuwezesha programu za uasili zilizochochewa zaidi na nia ya kupunguza gharama za ustawi wa kijamii. Ripoti hiyo ilitokana na uchunguzi wa karibu miaka mitatu kufuatia malalamiko kutoka kwa waasiliwa 367 walioko Ulaya, Marekani na Australia
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South Korea’s president apologized Thursday for poorly managed foreign adoption programs that were rife with abuses and fraud, months after the country’s truth commission admitted state responsibilities for such practices for the first time
President Lee Jae Myung said in a Facebook post that he was offering “heartfelt apology and words of comfort” on behalf of the country to South Koreans adopted abroad and their adoptive and birth families
Findings by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and recent court rulings have confirmed some cases of human rights abuses in the course of international adoptions, Lee said, adding that the government failed to play its role in such cases. He did not elaborate
Lee said he “feels heavy-hearted” when he thinks about “anxiety, pain and confusion” that South Korean adoptees would have suffered when they were sent abroad as children. He asked officials to formulate systems to safeguard the human rights of adoptees and support their efforts to find their birth parents.
South Korea has faced growing pressure to address widespread fraud and abuse that plagued its adoption programs, particularly during a heyday in the 1970s and 1980s when the country allowed thousands of children to be adopted each year
Many adoptees discovered their records were falsified to portray them as abandoned orphans, while others were carelessly removed, or even stolen, from their birth families.
In a landmark report in March, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded the government bore responsibility for facilitating adoption programs that were driven by efforts to reduce welfare costs. The report followed a nearly three-year investigation into complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Its finding broadly aligned with a 2024 Associated Press investigation, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), which detailed how South Korea’s governments, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply around 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence that many were procured through questionable or outright unscrupulous means
After years of delay, South Korea in July ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty meant to safeguard international adoptions. The treaty took effect in South Korea on Wednesday
Source: The Associated Press
Kupitia chapisho kwenye ukurasa wake wa Facebook, Rais Lee alisema anatoa “msamaha wa dhati na maneno ya faraja” kwa Wakorea walioasiliwa nje ya nchi pamoja na familia zao za kulea na za kuzaliwa
Rais Lee alieleza kuwa ripoti za Tume ya Ukweli na Maridhiano pamoja na maamuzi ya hivi karibuni ya mahakama yamebaini kuwepo kwa visa vya ukiukaji wa haki za binadamu katika mchakato wa uasili wa kimataifa. Alikiri kuwa serikali ilishindwa kutimiza wajibu wake, ingawa hakutaja kwa kina aina ya mapungufu hayo
Aidha, Rais Lee alisema moyo wake unasikitika anapofikiria “hofu, maumivu na mkanganyiko” waliopitia watoto wa Korea Kusini waliotumwa kuishi ughaibuni wakiwa wadogo. Aliwaagiza maafisa kuandaa mifumo ya kulinda haki za watoto wa kuasiliwa na kuwaunga mkono katika jitihada zao za kuwatafuta wazazi wao wa kuzaliwa
Korea Kusini imekuwa ikikabiliwa na shinikizo kubwa kushughulikia udanganyifu na manyanyaso yaliyogubika programu zake za uasili, hasa katika miaka ya 1970 na 1980, wakati ambapo maelfu ya watoto walikuwa wanapelekwa kuasiliwa kila mwaka
Wakorea wengi walioasiliwa nje ya nchi wamegundua kuwa nyaraka zao zilighushiwa ili waonekane kama yatima waliotelekezwa, huku wengine wakiondolewa kiholela, au hata kuibwa kutoka kwa familia zao za kuzaliwa
Katika ripoti ya kihistoria iliyotolewa Machi mwaka 2025, Tume ya Ukweli na Maridhiano ilihitimisha kuwa serikali ya Korea Kusini ilibeba jukumu la kuwezesha programu za uasili zilizochochewa zaidi na nia ya kupunguza gharama za ustawi wa kijamii. Ripoti hiyo ilitokana na uchunguzi wa karibu miaka mitatu kufuatia malalamiko kutoka kwa waasiliwa 367 walioko Ulaya, Marekani na Australia
===============
South Korea’s president apologized Thursday for poorly managed foreign adoption programs that were rife with abuses and fraud, months after the country’s truth commission admitted state responsibilities for such practices for the first time
President Lee Jae Myung said in a Facebook post that he was offering “heartfelt apology and words of comfort” on behalf of the country to South Koreans adopted abroad and their adoptive and birth families
Findings by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and recent court rulings have confirmed some cases of human rights abuses in the course of international adoptions, Lee said, adding that the government failed to play its role in such cases. He did not elaborate
Lee said he “feels heavy-hearted” when he thinks about “anxiety, pain and confusion” that South Korean adoptees would have suffered when they were sent abroad as children. He asked officials to formulate systems to safeguard the human rights of adoptees and support their efforts to find their birth parents.
South Korea has faced growing pressure to address widespread fraud and abuse that plagued its adoption programs, particularly during a heyday in the 1970s and 1980s when the country allowed thousands of children to be adopted each year
Many adoptees discovered their records were falsified to portray them as abandoned orphans, while others were carelessly removed, or even stolen, from their birth families.
In a landmark report in March, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded the government bore responsibility for facilitating adoption programs that were driven by efforts to reduce welfare costs. The report followed a nearly three-year investigation into complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Its finding broadly aligned with a 2024 Associated Press investigation, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), which detailed how South Korea’s governments, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply around 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence that many were procured through questionable or outright unscrupulous means
After years of delay, South Korea in July ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty meant to safeguard international adoptions. The treaty took effect in South Korea on Wednesday
Source: The Associated Press
