Korean Court Dismisses Government Liability, But Orders Holt to Pay Compensation to Adam Crapser

According to KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), a South Korean Court has ordered the Holt Children Services adoption agency “to pay compensation to a South Korean adoptee who was illegally sent overseas despite having biological parents in the country.

The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday sided with the plaintiff, 48-year-old Adam Crapser, born Shin Song-hyuk, ordering the agency to pay 100 million won, or 75-thousand U.S. dollars, plus delayed interest.

The court did not, however, acknowledge the government’s liability for compensation, dismissing that portion of the lawsuit.”

According to the AP (Associated Press), “In reading out the verdict, Judge Park Jun-min did not elaborate on why the court refused to hold the government accountable. Crapser’s lawyers said they will review the full version of the ruling, which the court didn’t immediately release, before deciding whether to appeal.

‘We want to express our very serious regret,’ said Kim Soo-jung, one of Crapser’s lawyers.

‘The (government) knew that children procured for adoptions were not being (properly) protected, that their human rights were being violated — they should have done something about it, but they didn’t. … It seems that the court simply saw the government as a monitoring institution, and not as an actor that directly committed illegal acts.'”

Further, according to the AP, “It remains to be seen whether Crapser’s case inspires more lawsuits by adoptees, who are becoming more vocal with their criticism of past South Korean corruption in adoption practices, which caused a huge but unknown number of wrongful family separations and stymied thousands from reconnecting with their roots.

The Court will apparently release more information tomorrow, and both Holt Children’s Services and Crapser may appeal today’s ruling.

While this may not have been the ruling that Adam Crapser hoped for in terms of government liability, the court case does now create a precedent of sorts for other adoptees.

As the AP article states, “Tuesday’s verdict came months after hundreds of Korean adoptees from Europe and North America asked South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate their adoption circumstances. They say their status and identities were laundered to facilitate marred adoptions.

The commission has opened investigations of dozens of those applications and may take more cases in the coming months, as it proceeds with the most far-reaching inquiry into South Korea’s foreign adoptions yet.

The commission’s potential findings could allow more adoptees to launch legal actions against agencies or the government, which would otherwise be difficult because South Korean civil courts put the burden of proof entirely on plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources.”

The action by the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, combined with this court case, could hold huge ramifications for international adoptees from Korea and from other countries. Around the globe, especially in Western Europe, international adoptees are mobilizing to demand more information about their adoptions, and, as in the case of Adam Crapser, to hold adoption agencies and governments liable and accountable for “wrongful family separations” and for the inability to find their families and learn their own histories.

Judgement on Adam Crapser’s Suit Against Holt and South Korea Could Be Announced Tuesday

On Tuesday May 16, a South Korean court is expected to rule on adoptee Adam Crapser’s suit against the adoption agency Holt International and the government of the Republic of Korea.

From my 2022 blog post Adam Crapser vs. Republic of Korea and Holt International: “Obvious international human rights violations:

“In January 2019, Korean adoptee Adam Crapser filed a petition against the Korean government and Holt Children’s Services Inc. for allegedly violating his rights during his adoption process. ‘Although the plaintiff’s story garnered worldwide media attention, his lawsuit represents a historic legal first..this petition is the first and only attempt by an inter-country adoptee to hold the Korean government accountable for failing to uphold its duty in such an adoption.'” 

Lee Kyeung-eun, the director of Human Rights Beyond Borders), wrote in The Korea Times article “Adam Crapser vs. The Republic of Korea,” that “This petition filed by Shin Song-hyuk (better known as Adam Crapser) is the first and only attempt by an inter-country adoptee to hold the Korean government accountable for failing to uphold its duty in such an adoption.”

Kyeung-eun cites several “Alleged illegal acts of Republic of Korea” as well as “Alleged illegal acts of Holt Children’s Services Inc,” and argues that “The plaintiff (Crapser) has suffered the following rights violations: the right to know and preserve his true identity due to the fraudulent falsification of his orphan registration (a birth registration reserved for children without their parents’ information); damages from physical, mental and emotional abuse inflicted in the course of the adoption, the dissolution of the adoption and the consequential multiple moves to other homes and the effects of those events; violation of the right to acquire and have the nationality of his adoptive country; violation of personality rights and the right to pursue happiness due to deportation.”

After being brought to the United States for adoption at 3 years old, Crapser was horribly abused and abandoned by two adoptive families. He got into legal trouble, and faced deportation because he could not prove his US citizenship.

Ultimately Adam was deported by the Unites States back to South Korea in 2016, leaving behind a wife and 3 daughters. He is not the only deported international adoptee: According to the New York Times, “Deportation a Death Sentence to Adoptees After a Lifetime in the United States.”

I wrote about Adam’s deportation for Slate. I’ve been writing about the tragedy of adoptee deportation for years. While Crapser is not the only internationally adopted deportee, he is the first to sue both his adoption agency and the government of his country of origin. Many governments and adoption agencies are likely watching this case closely.

I will post more when we hear about the court’s decision. May there be justice for adoptees.