South Korean government and agency sued by 72-year-old mother over the adoption of her missing son

A 72-year-old mother has filed a lawsuit against South Korea’s government and its largest adoption agency, alleging systematic failures in her forced separation from her toddler son, who was sent to Norway without her consent.

Choi Young-ja searched desperately for her son for nearly five decades before their emotional reunion in 2023.

The damage claim by Choi, whose story was part of an Associated Press investigation also documented by Frontline (PBS), comes as South Korea faces growing pressure to address the extensive fraud and abuse that tainted what’s seen as history’s largest foreign adoption program.

In a landmark report in March, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government bears responsibility for facilitating an aggressive and loosely regulat