- Headline: "The Miscellaneous Stand"
- Source: Chosun Ilbo
- Date of Publication: August 20, 1976
- Summary:
In recent years, a significant number of South Korean children have been adopted internationally. However, North Korean propaganda has deliberately misrepresented this practice, falsely claiming that South Korea is engaged in the sale of children. These allegations distort the reality of international adoption, where adoptive parents naturally bear the costs associated with airfare, medical expenses incurred during the child’s stay in an orphanage, institutional care fees, and administrative costs related to the adoption process. In the United States, the legalization of abortion and the increasing tendency of unwed mothers to raise their children have led to a sharp decline in the number of children available for adoption. Since 1973, childless American couples seeking to adopt have faced a shortage of adoptable orphans. At the same time, black communities and groups have strongly opposed placing black children in white families. As a result, domestic adoption opportunities have become more limited in the United States, leading to increased interest in adopting Korean orphans.
In response, South Korea has recently enacted the Act on Special Cases Concerning (Domestic) Adoption to encourage domestic adoption. The government is working to reduce the number of overseas adoptions by 20 percent annually. By the conclusion of the Fourth Five-Year Plan, it is anticipated that expanded social welfare facilities will provide comprehensive care, ultimately resolving the orphan crisis within South Korea. From the aftermath of World War II through the early 1970s, unwed pregnancy and childbirth were heavily stigmatized in Western societies, leading many unwed mothers to place their children for adoption. However, by the mid-1970s, this trend began to shift as social attitudes evolved, the stigma gradually lessened, and more unwed mothers chose to raise their children themselves. This article highlights the changing landscape of this issue in the United States.
CLICK the article below to 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.
|
