The International Korean Adoptee Associations is looking to change the perception that the Korean public have of Korean adoptees by bringing their professions, knowledge and unique link to other countries to the table.

Over 500 adoptees gathered for the opening ceremony of the IKAA 2010 Gathering at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul this Wednesday.

The adoptees, from late teens to those in their 50s, and their loved ones from 20 different countries came to participate in the gathering.

The IKAA is holding a range of events for both Korean adoptees and the public till Sunday.

This year’s gathering has an emphasis on promoting dialogue and a greater understanding between Korean adoptees and Korean society.

Stories of Korean adoptees used to arouse pity from people.

“I don’t feel like we need or want to be charity cases,” said Tim Holm, president of both the IKAA and the Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington. “We want to do more meaningful activities for the adoptees other than just birth searches or living in Korea and teaching English. We really want to be able to promote business and professional exchanges."

He also pointed out that there are many educated adoptees who would be able to do much for the Korean government and Korean people.

On the planning committee alone for this gathering, there is a long list of professionals. Holm himself is a CPA, Liselotte Hae-Jin Birkmose has a Master’s degree in art history and works for an international art investment company. From the Netherlands, Floor Eusterbrock works as a Marketing Communication Executive. Lisa Ellingson, from Minnesota, is an attorney in the area of business litigation. Tae Yang Jorgenson, from Denmark, holds a Master’s of Science in IT and works as an advisor in the administration of the Ministry of Climate and Energy.

For the first time ever, the IKAA gathering will be hosting a business seminar on Friday to further promote that theme. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency has agreed to participate and help facilitate networking between Korean adoptees and Korean businesses.

One of the events already held was the second International Symposium on Korean Adoption Studies. The symposium consisted of 12 different studies and their findings on and for the Korean adoptee community.

Professor Kim Park Nelson, an adoptee herself, is the lead organizer and proceedings editor for this year’s symposium and also the one in 2007. Nelson is an assistant professor of American Multicultural Studies at the Minnesota State University at Moorhead.

There have been studies done on the Korean adoptee community since the 1950s. But according to Nelson “the research doesn’t speak to us, it speaks to adoptive parents, agencies and society as a whole”

Nelson was asked by the IKAA to create a research symposium. Unhappy with the research already out there, she developed the 2007 symposium with the primary motive of sharing information with the adoptee community. She was hoping to encourage the researchers to be mindful of the population they did their studies on.

The symposium consisted of 12 panelists from all over the world, many of whom were adoptees themselves.

They covered a board range of topics about unwed mothers in Korea, Korean adoptee identity, Korean adoptee politics and more.

Some of the research covered the question of why adoptions are so common in Korea.

According to Kimberly McKee’s research, only 10.9% of the country’s GDP was spent on social welfare in 2008, putting Korea as the second lowest spender on social welfare among OECD countries.

Yang Min-ok and Han Boon-young, researchers at Soongsil University, have interviewed single mothers who have felt the adverse effects of such lack of spending.

“If you call service numbers starting with 080 and 1588 they will tell you that ‘we only accept teen mothers.’ They say that older women cause too much trouble,” said a research participant.

And research has found that it is not only the lack of economic support but also stigmas from society that affect the mothers as well.

In 2009, the Korean Women’s Development Institute and the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network found that Korean people associate unwed mothers with carelessness, irresponsibility and sexual cheapness and are recognized as the second most discriminated group in Korea.

“The perception of the unwed child rearing mother is the worst. Like a criminal,” said the same participant in Han and Yang’s study.

David Smolin, a law professor at Samford University, says that although international adoption is not a bad thing, more needs to be done to keep the birth families together.

During the opening ceremony former first lady Lee Hee-ho wholeheartedly congratulated those at the gathering and welcomed them to Korea. She also expressed her sincere appreciation and wished to pay her respects to the adoptive families.

Senator Lee Nak-yon also agreed with Holm in that adoptees are not subjects to feel pity for. He believed that adoptees are to be respected for overcoming uneasy childhoods with positive attitudes.

The IKAA is a bigger network of non-profit adoptee organizations.

The IKAA Gathering 2010 is sponsored by numerous Korean and foreign companies. However, Tim Holm expressed sadness that the Overseas Korean Foundation had withdrawn their support for the IKAA and did not fund this year’s gathering. In 2004 and 2007, the OKF had donated over $200,000.

By Robert Lee (rjmlee@heraldcorp.com)