Adoptee deportation from the U.S. to South Korea drew attentionof the world media because it is such an exceptional and irrationalcase. Intercounry adoptees are living in the adoptive countriestaking for granted that they are citizens of the country. ...
Adoptee deportation from the U.S. to South Korea drew attentionof the world media because it is such an exceptional and irrationalcase. Intercounry adoptees are living in the adoptive countriestaking for granted that they are citizens of the country. But it isnot true in the U.S. and recently an adoptee deportee committedsuicide in Korea. This phenomena is not accidental or exceptionalunder the law and system of intercountry adoption between Koreaand the U.S. This is unavoidable consequence of the related legalloophole that these two countries maintained until 2013.
International legal norms governing intercountry adoption has madea remarkable progress in regards to the cooperation between thesending and receiving countries of intercountry adoption, i.e. HagueConvention on Intercountry Adoption. However, these two countries,Korea, the biggest and longest sending country in the world, theU.S. the biggest receiving country in the world, were so ignorant ofthese international legal norms for the protection of the rights ofthe child. In this paper, assessing the international norms on theintercountry adoption and nationality of the child, I will try to explain why the legal system related to the intercountry adoptionbetween Korea and the U.S. was so vulnerable and weak to protectthe rights of the child. These analysis will lead to the policysuggestion to restore the rights of the adoptees in the U.S. andprovide appropriate protection for the children in Korea.