- Headline: "Postscript"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: February 5, 1976
- Summary:
A recent U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Youth issues has exposed a flourishing black market for babies in the United States, where unwed mothers’ infants are reportedly being sold for anywhere between $4,000 and $40,000. According to testimony presented at the hearing, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 children were trafficked in 1971 alone. However, in the years since, a decline in the number of available infants has driven prices up and solidified the black market. Analysts attribute this trend to the fact that whereas five years ago, 80% of unwed mothers surrendered their babies due to social stigma, today, 80% are choosing to raise them with dignity and without shame.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, over the past three years, 4,840 unwed mothers have sought counseling from five major welfare organizations, including Holt Children's Services. Particularly alarming is the fact that 70% of these women became pregnant after running away from home. There is an old saying, "A borrowed pot may crack, a wandering woman may stray." The rising number of unwed mothers is primarily due to a lack of sexual knowledge and moral degradation. Unlike in Scandinavian countries, where robust social welfare systems support unwed mothers and their children, or in the United States, where unwed mothers can openly raise their children without stigma, such a reality seems far from imminent in South Korea. Rather than facing an black market for babies, as seen in the U.S., South Korea must prioritize population control and find ways to reduce the number of unwed mothers. To achieve this, strengthening sexual morality and expanding sex education are of utmost importance.
※ Note: According to a Chosun Ilbo article published on February 3, 1976, the five counseling centers for unwed mothers at the time were Holt Children's Services, Korea Welfare Services, Korea Social Service, Aeran Welfare Society, and the Salvation Army Yŏjagwan (a mother and baby home). In 1975, the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) merged with Holt Children's Services. Prior to this merger, CAPOK actively shaped the discourse on unwed motherhood by compiling statistical data from counseling sessions and asserting that unwed mothers were increasing in number, predominantly young, of low educational attainment, and sexually promiscuous. However, following its integration into Holt, CAPOK ceased to be a visible entity in the media. The same discourse on unwed motherhood was subsequently reproduced by Holt Children's Services and state-approved international adoption agencies such as the Korea Welfare Services, Korea Social Service, and Eastern Social Welfare Society. These institutions, drawing upon demographic data from their in-house counseling services, continued to construct and reinforce a stereotype of unwed mothers. This persistent discursive entrapment ensured that unwed mothers remained marginalized within dominant narratives, thereby continuously legitimizing the international adoption of their children as a necessary and morally justified intervention.
This article uncritically adopts and reproduces the dominant discourse on unwed mothers promoted by adoption agencies. Furthermore, it illustrates how the prevention of unwed motherhood and the overseas adoption of children born to unwed mothers were closely linked to the broader state’s imperatives of population and birth control.
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