Korea's Fake Orphans: How Adoptions To USA & Sweden Tore Families Apart | One "Orphan" Every Hour

Update: On 2 Oct 2025, South Korea's president apologised for the first time over state-sanctioned malpractices in sending tens of thousands of children overseas for adoption, saying "unjust human rights violations" were committed. Read more at cna.asia: https://cna.asia/4gTptan Nearly 250,000 South Korean children were adopted to the West as “orphans” in the 60 years following the Korean War. Some to loving homes. Others to tragic ends. Raised in places where they looked like nobody else, many were told to forget their past and be grateful. But the innate desire to understand where you came from has led many Korean adoptees to search for their roots. In the process, they discover lies in their past and families they never knew existed. In this documentary, correspondent Wei Du travels around the world to meet Korean adoptees and accompany a few on their journey to reclaim who they are. Together, they reveal how an “orphan rescue” mission separated families and erased the roots of hundreds of thousands. 00:00 Meet the adoptees 01:44 The lie of Korea's "orphans" 03:04 A song I no longer recognise 05:15 Why 10,000 Korean children were sent to Sweden 07:11 How Sweden became a hub for Korean adoptions 10:29 Why the US took in so many Korean children 15:06 GI babies: Korea's children of US soldiers 19:54 Cult leader's adopted Korean children 24:13 "Saved from prostitution"? The truth of my adoption 27:55 Why this US couple adopted in 2005 32:03 Lies in our adoption stories 38:22 How Sweden pressured Korea to give up more children 42:49 Chase's biological sister visits for his 20th birthday 46:15 Anna's life in Sweden: Always different 48:54 Phil's search for his birth family 52:46 Rebuilding siblinghood: Mary & Chase's struggle 58:17 Catherine's complex relationship with her adoptive mother 1:00:47 Catherine and Anna reunite after 50 years 1:06:58 Phil returns to Korea after 50 years 1:08:58 Koroot: NGO supporting Korean adoptees 1:10:15 Were adoption agencies in it for the money? 1:11:53 "A child supply market": Moses Farrow 1:17:24 Korea investigates human rights violations in adoption 1:19:26 Confronting the orphanage manager who sent him abroad 1:23:41 Adoptees find comfort in each other 1:26:25 Han Tae-soon's hunt for her kidnapped daughter 1:29:28 The fight for truth continues ================ #CNAInsider #OneOrphanEveryHourCNA #SouthKorea #Korea #Sweden #USA #Adoption #Scandal #CelebrityAdoption #JonestownMassacre #President For more, SUBSCRIBE to CNA INSIDER https://cna.asia/insideryoutubesub Follow CNA INSIDER on: Instagram:   / cnainsider   Facebook:   / cnainsider   Website: https://cna.asia/cnainsider