Timeline
2023
June 30th
The new adoption laws are passed by the National Assembly. These laws includes a clause that makes the NCRC the sole institute responsible for all the adoption files.
July 12th
In an interview with the press, the head of the NCRC Chung Ick-Joong calls for the need to establish a dedicated archive to house the adoption files.
Sources:
July 17th
A conference on Adoption Record Management is held at the National Assembly, hosted by the People Power Party MP Kim Mi-ae.
Click here for the conference brief
Source: Polinews
October 4th
In an articel by News1, Chung Ick-Joong explains that nothing has been decided on the construction of a dedicated archive and that "besides the current idea of an archive, we're open to thinking about other solutions."
Source: News1
December 11th
At the Overseas Korean Adoptees Gathering hosted by the Overseas Korean Agency, Chung Ick-Joong says that “Much preparation is needed for the law to take effect in July 2025. We will research and consider the establishment of an adoption archive, among other matters."
Source: Yonhap News
2024
January 26th
The Ministry of Health and Welfare hosts the first meeting of the Adoption System Reform Council, which includes representatives of the National Archive, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, local governments, and the Ministry of Justice, as well as the adoption agencies and the NCRC.
Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare
May 30th
The Minstry of Health and Welfare hosts the second meeting of the Adoption System Reform Council. As part of the preparations for the transfer of the files, a comprehensive survey of files held by the adoption agencies will be conducted starting in June of this year. This includes confirming the number of folders, creating a transfer list, organizing preservation boxes for the transfer, attaching location information among other steps.
Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare
April 23rd
In an interview, Chung Ick-Joong says the NCRC needs between 30 ~ 50 billion won (~ 22 - 36 million USD) to construct an archive to house the records of about 250.000 domestic and intercountry adoptees. He plans to conduct a comprehensive survey to estimate the scale of storage required and calculate the exact budget needed, after which he will discuss the matter with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Sources:
July 8th ~ 9th
The NCRC, together with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, organized the "2024 NCRC On-site briefing on adoption records" in the Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel. Over 50 representatives of adoption agencies (incl. Holt, KWS, and ESWS), local governments, and relevant institutions gathered to discuss collaborative measures for record management. No adoptee stakeholders were invited.
Kang Gumin, archivist and senior manager of the NCRC's Adoption Services Office's Records Management Team, explained the NCRC's plan to construct a 4.500 m² adoption archive. With one basement floor and two floors above ground, it is supposed to become a larchivium (library + archive + museum) as well as have dedicated spaces for reunions and conservation equipment.
The plan is to construct this space by 2029 on land owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Gurae-dong, Gimpo-si.
After holding meetings with Gimpo-si earlier in 2024, the NCRC completed a site survey and plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Gimpo-si and the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO).
Also explained at this briefing is that from July until November of 2024, a comprehensive survey of approximately 160.000 adoption records is planned to be conducted, including those of KSS, KWS, ESWS, and part of Holt.
Until the archive is established, a temporary storage facility is planned to be operated by leasing a space in Goyang City to minimize complaints from adoptees and ensure the stable preservation of adoption records.
This event had a total cost of 21.898.000 won.
July 18th
Ministry of Health and Welfare's budget request of 4,825 billion won (~3,52 million USD) is rejected by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Of this budget, 2,4 billion won (~ 1,75 million USD) was reserved for a temporary archive, 925 million won (~675K USD) for the comprehensive survey, and 1,5 billion won (1,1 million USD) to design a dedicated archive.
A representative of the Ministry of Finance is quoted saying “The law does not stipulate that an archive must be established.” He added, “It seems that the Ministry of Health and Welfare wants to construct a building,” and asked, “Isn't it true that a separate archive building is not necessary for proper management?”
However, Article 13 of the the Public Records Management Act does stipulate that an archive is necessary.
Source: Newspim
August 27th
The NCRC is allocated a budget of 2,341 billion won (~1,7 million USD) for the 2025 fiscal year to handle all archive related matters. The transfer of adoption records is to proceed with less than 50% of the necessary budget.
Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare
September 27th
NCRC is handed over the adoption related records from the Busan City archive. A total of 86 books were handed over. This is the first time that adoption related records were handed over from a local government to the NCRC.
Source: Newsis
September 30th
The Minstry of Health and Welfare hosts the 소third meeting of the Adoption System Reform Council. This meeting focusses on defining the articles in the Enforcement Decrees of the new adoption laws.
Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare
2025
January 23rd
NCRC and Ministry of Health and Welfare review the preparations for the implementation of a child-centered public adoption system. They discussed the budget and procedures for the transfer of the records.
Source: NCRC
February 26th
March 26th
NCRC and Ministry of Health and Welfare hold their third review meeting. Discussed are the second comprehensive survey and the temporary archive.
Source: NCRC
April 8th
During a press brief, Chung Ick-Joong says they surveyed over 40 locations to find one that abides by archival standards. He says that he will ask adoptees to have grace for a stop in the adoption information disclosure service, saying this is necessary during the transfer of the files. He will also push for a UNESCO heritage status of the records. According to Chung, the NCRC has also completed their comprehensive survey of the adoption files.
Sources:
April 23rd
NCRC and Ministry of Health and Welfare hold their fourth review meeting. Quoted from their own press brief: "In particular, with the revision of the adoption information disclosure request system, to ensure the right to know for domestic and international adoptees there was extensive discussion on plans to produce multilingual (three languages) informational materials to easily communicate changes to the system. Through these efforts, we plan to actively strengthen communication with the adoptees."
Source: NCRC
April 27th
MBC Straight mentions that, after almost a year, Kimpo City is ready to sign the MOU but that they are still waiting for a response from the NCRC. It is also revealed that the temporary location has already been decided: a coupang distribution center in Goyang City.
April 25th
NCRC publishes the "Notice on the Reform of the Adoption Information Disclosure System" in Korean, English, French, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Italian, and Dutch. This is the first time that it becomes public: from June 16 to September 15, 2025, new requests for information disclosure at the NCRC and the adoption agencies will be temporarily suspended. Any submissions to the NCRC or the agencies done up until the 15th of June will be processed. This info only becomes available on the English KAS website on June 12th. Click here for the brochure in all languages.
Source: NCRC
April 30th
The NCRC releases a press brief about the new location, revealing publically the address of the new location:
Source: NCRC
May 4th
Interview with the MBC Producer about her reporting on the issue.
Reveals that: "When I visited the temporary storage facility for adoption records that the NCRC was planning to arrange, I found that it was a cold storage facility in Goyang-City. When I asked the building manager what it was used for, he said that the entire building had been used as a cold storage facility, and an employee of the NCRC said, 'This is not a good place to store records because it is a cold storage facility.'
These are old records. To store them, the temperature and humidity must be kept constant, and the temperature and humidity control devices must be kept running continuously. If the upper and lower floors are used as cold storage, there is a high risk of condensation forming and damaging the records, which is a major concern.
Additionally, the original purpose of building the archive was to store adoption records and provide a service to show the records to adoptees who come to visit. However, it seemed inconvenient for adoptees to visit, as the location was about an hour and a half away by bus from Incheon or Gimpo International Airports. I understand that many locations were reviewed internally, but ultimately, a remote cold storage facility was selected as the temporary storage site for the adoption records. The NCRC reportedly considered it an optimal candidate site as it met the load capacity standards and was 'relatively urban.'"
Source: Oh My News
May 5th
From this article, it becomes apparent that the Ministry of Health and Welfare requested an additional 1,390 billion won (~ 1 million USD) for the comprehensive survey and preservation of adoption records (740 million won; 540K USD) and transferring original adoption records to be digitized (650 million won; 475K USD). However, not a single won was reflected in the final budget.
Source: Segye
May 14th
This aritcle mentions that 2.425 billion won (~1,8 million USD) requested for the 2025 budget to create a temporary storage facility was reduced to 1.787 billion won (~1,3 million USD) - a reduction of over 25%. Part of this is because budget to transfer files from other child welfare institutions besides the adoption agencies was cut.
Source: Edaily
May 28th
NCRC and Ministry of Health and Welfare hold their fifth review meeting on the preparations for the implementation of a child-centered public adoption system.
Source: NCRC
June 2nd
The NCRC publishes a tender notice for the second comprehensive survey (100K folders) and the transfer of all the archival material (300K folders) to the temporary archive, costing 850.000.000 won (~617K USD). The document reveals that the entire transfer is expected to last up to 6 months with final approval only due in the 7th month.
Click here for the Tender Notice
June 13th
In response to Hakook Ilbo, the Ministry of Health and Welfare states that: "This year, we will prioritize the transfer of records from the adoption agencies." and that "The digitization of all records can be carried out after that."
Source:
TBD: July 19th
The adoption files ready from the first comprehensive survey will be moved following this day while the adoption files from the second comprehensive survey will be moved as soon as they are surveyed.
The tender notice from July 2nd provides more details about the schedule that is expected to be followed.
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