For the World's More Full of Weeping: Why South Korea Should Retroactively Abolish Civil and Criminal Statutes of Limitation in Connection with Illegal International Adoptions

Abstract

In the 60 years following the Korean War, South Korea sent up to 200,000 children to adoptive parents in other countries. Although an exact number is not known, advocates believe that many of these children were not eligible for international adoption under either South Korean law or the laws of the countries to which the children were sent. They allege that South Korean adoption agencies, among other abuses, improperly pressured women to relinquish their children, accepted children for international adoption without the consent of both parents, and falsely classified children as orphans by furnishing them with fraudulent documents. A number of commentators believe that South Korea’s former military dictatorships promoted and facilitated the illegal international adoptions for economic reasons and that the adoption agencies in South Korea acted as their agents. Some adoptees wish to pursue civil remedies in the South Korean courts against the adoption agencies and the South Korean government. They also would like the South Korean government to criminally prosecute those responsible for orchestrating their illegal adoptions.But rigid application of South Korea’s statutes of limitation would time-bar both civil and criminal cases against defendants allegedly responsible for illegal international adoptions. This Article proposes that South Korea’s courts or its legislature should retroactively abolish, toll, or significantly extend civil and criminal statutes of limitation to allow South Korean courts to decide illegal international adoption cases on their merits.