- Headline: "Moral Poverty"
- Subheading: Who Is Abandoning These Children?
- Source: Dong-A Ilbo
- Date of Publication: April 6, 1976
- Summary:
More than economic poverty, it is moral poverty that hinders a nation’s progress. The recent surge in abandoned infants is largely the result of unwed mothers giving birth irresponsibly. Many of the women seeking help from shelters and care facilities are factory girls or maids, indicating that the issue of abandoned children is a complex problem rooted in both decaying morals and low wages. In a country lacking a strong social welfare system, society has no choice but to rely on humanitarian solutions such as adoption. However, even as the nation experiences rapid economic growth, it remains a national disgrace that thousands of Korean children continue to be sent abroad for adoption. The BBC’s recent criticism of Korea’s adoption practices should not be ignored, nor should the recent propaganda attacks from North Korea exploiting the issue.
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has announced plans to accelerate the passage of the Act on Special Cases Concerning (Domestic) Adoption to encourage more domestic adoptions. However, before focusing on adoption, a more urgent priority is preventing unwed mothers from giving birth in the first place. While legalizing abortion may be one solution, the greater necessity is the establishment of strong moral values across all sectors of society. A society where mothers abandon their own children cannot be expected to stand firm in the face of communist aggression. The discourse surrounding unwed pregnancy and childbirth is a stigmatizing narrative that frames it as an issue of sexual promiscuity and moral decay, positioning it as a problem of women rather than men. Furthermore, it is constructed as an issue specific to working-class women, particularly “factory girls” and “maids.”
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