- Headline: "Unwed Mothers on the Rise"
- Source: Chosun Ilbo
- Date of Publication: March 13, 1975
- Summary:
The recent fire at Angel’s Home has starkly exposed a deep-seated issue in Korean society. All 14 infants who perished in the fire were children of unwed mothers, underscoring a shift in the concept of orphans in Korea from “war or poverty orphans” to “unwed mother orphans.” According to social service departments in major cities, the number of “unwed mother orphans” increased by an average of 20% by the end of 1972. Christian Adoption Program of Korea, which counsels unwed mothers, reports that the age of unwed mothers continues to decrease, reflecting a troubling decline in moral standards.
This phenomenon can be attributed to three main factors: 1) increased employment opportunities for teenage women due to industrialization; 2) changes in family structures, leading to a decline in parental authority; and 3) the tragedy rising from a decline in sexual morality influenced by foreign cultural values. These social conditions suggest that the number of unwed mothers is likely to grow exponentially unless addressed.
However, adoption, the only effective remedy for this crisis, faces significant challenges. Efforts to restrict overseas adoptions to protect national prestige, combined with the challenges of domestic adoption, have made progress slow. Domestic adoption remains a “narrow door,” as adoptive parents face barriers. Even for those who wish to raise an adopted child as their own, the law requires the child to be officially registered as an 'adopted child' in the family registry. Also, there are no clear regulations should biological parents reappear.
The tragic deaths of the “burned angels,” symbolized by their scorched milk bottles and toys, must prompt urgent measures to reduce the number of unwed mothers and improve support systems. First, parents must re-establish authority in the home to curb teenage recklessness. Second, the management of female workers in industrial areas must be strengthened. Third, sound emotional and moral education must be promoted.
Additionally, investment in facilities to protect these children, these seeds of misfortune, domestically is crucial, along with resolving the legal hurdles hindering domestic adoption. In the 1970s, as South Korea entered a period of rapid capitalist economic development, the societal shift from traditional extended family structures to nuclear family units centered around a male breadwinner became a key feature of social organization. During this time, adoption, framed as child welfare, served as a mechanism to separate children born to unwed mothers outside the institution of marriage and reassign them to married couples. This process simultaneously sought to reintegrate unwed mothers into society as women deemed suitable for marriage, reinforcing the modern patriarchal order. The emergence of the term “unwed mother orphans” reflects this socio-cultural dynamic. CLICK the article belowto view the original scanned article as it appeared in print, complete with text and images, on the Naver News Library, which archives Korean newspapers from the 1920s to the 1990s. For easier reading, click “텍스트 보기” (View text) in the top right corner to open a text-only window.
Note: Articles are in Korean, and English translations are not provided in the library.  The English summary and translation of this article is provided by UMI4AA.
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