What is the meaning of the tattoos on the arms of adoptees?
SBS' 'I Want to Know That' (hereinafter referred to as 'G-R'), which aired on the 13th, traced the mystery that occurred among overseas adoptees with the subtitle 'Ruth Yunhee and the Eleven Marks – The Mystery of the Moles and Tattoos of Overseas Adoptees.'
Park Yun-hee, born in Korea in December 1969, was adopted to Europe in May 1971, about 1 year and 6 months after birth. That's how Ruth von denver came to have two names.
He grew up with the love of his adoptive parents, married a local Dutchman, and started a family. But one day her husband questioned the mole on his arm.
Ruth thought it was just an ordinary mole. But then one day, he learned the story of Sarah Jones, who was adopted from Korea to the United States.
Sarah Jones was suspicious of the cross and four dots tattooed on her arm since childhood and posted them on her social media. And some time later, he was able to find his family after 42 years.
Sarah's tattoo was made by her biological father before he was separated from his children, with the intention of finding them again. After seeing this, Ruth expected that the mole on her arm might be similar to Sarah Jones' tattoo.
The dermatologist determined that the mole on Ruth's arm was most likely a tattoo, not a mole. Ruth was even more hopeful because her adoptive parents had never tattooed her arm.
Mr. Ruth eventually posted the tattoo video on social media. And soon after, about 20 overseas adoptees from Denmark, Norway, and the United States who saw his video contacted him, saying they had something similar. In particular, among them, more than 10 people received confirmation that it was a tattoo rather than a mole.
The places where they were found and the childcare facilities where they lived were all different. They had something in common: they were girls adopted at a young age in the 1970s. They also had something in common: they underwent surgery or were hospitalized immediately after being adopted.
As a result, the adopted children wondered if it was a sign for sick children. At the same time, they speculated that it was a mark to indicate preferred children when adopting.
After questioning, the production team asked the doctor who diagnosed the children at the time whether he had marked the sick children. To this, the doctor in charge responded that he was busy sending the children abroad rather than labeling them to identify their condition.
However, another official said it was necessary to distinguish between the children's conditions. And I guessed that a mark had been made at a gathering point somewhere. Adopted children stayed at the same institution for a while, but the institution has already disappeared and adoption officials denied any connection between the place and the tattoo.
An official in charge of international adoption at the adoption agency at the time said that in many cases, orphans or starvation were created for convenience. “In the United States and Europe, there is a tendency to strictly look at whether the child has a mother or whether the parents have consented to adoption, so it is better to send the child as an orphan or starvation.” “It’s much easier in the adoption process,” he explained, drawing attention.
Mr. Ruth came to Korea to find his roots. He thought he had been abandoned somewhere in Seoul, but confirmed records from the adoption agency that he had been abandoned in Gunsan and raised in an orphanage in Jeonju. And an unexpected answer came back from the orphanage I visited to find out more details. All records were lost in the fire.
And Ruth, who visited Korea again after 11 years. Will he be able to find his family?
However, the adoption agency responded that they did not have any records and that they did not know his information, and only delivered a souvenir.
The production team went to Jeonju City Hall with Mr. Ruth to find records related to him. However, City Hall announced that the records of the orphanage he had been at 45 years ago had been transferred to another location. And the place where the records were transferred was already the place Mr. Ruth had visited 10 years ago. However, they only said that all the records there had been destroyed by fire.
However, the production team discovered that there was no record of a fire at the child care facility where the fire occurred.
Ruth, who was angry at this, returned to the child care facility for the first time in 10 years. He announced his visit in advance, but the door to the daycare center was locked.
We checked again with the adoption agency, but were told that the person in charge was not at the location, and the agency refused to even talk to us, saying they had not heard anything about Ruth's visit and had nothing to say.
Mr. Ruth went to pick up a copy of his family register and confirmed that his copy of his family register was an orphan. And, like Ruth, it was revealed that all the adoptees at H Welfare Society had orphan family registers.
Between 1971 and 1974, the rate of orphans among adopted children reached 86-90%. The expert explained, “The government's position was that the number of starving people in the 1970s was so high that they had no choice but to send them overseas.”
However, it was confirmed that the difference between hunger statistics between actual police records and Ministry of Health and Social Affairs records was too large. According to the National Police Agency's concept of hunger, children adopted overseas were not starving.
Accordingly, the expert explained that the economic benefits from the adoption agency's point of view were huge, and that “dollars came in from the state's point of view. It was about $3,000 per child, which was more than the annual salary of a social worker.”
Additionally, an official at the welfare association where Mr. Ruth lived in the 1970s said he had never seen anything like a dot tattoo. And about the situation at the time, he said that it was a child war situation where there were many parents who wanted to adopt but no children to send.
At the time, the state required adoptive parents to pay $1,450 per child. It was also revealed that additional placement fees, donations, etc. were requested.
Accordingly, they lobby each other to take the child, and when they bring the child, they pay money to the hospital, and absurdity is rampant. Even if he did that, he could have received much more money, so he committed such illegal acts.
Adoptees like Ruth wanted a genuine apology for all the children who were treated like fish being transported from country to country. A formal apology for the way they were treated.
Finally, Mr. Ruth headed to the place where the daycare center where he stayed was located. And I heard that many children lost their lives there and were buried without a mark in a small hill behind the orphanage.
There were names there that were not in the records but should definitely be remembered.
In the end, it was not revealed why someone left the dot tattoo. Accordingly, we asked for information from those who know the answer.
And he raised his voice saying that it is time for the government of the Republic of Korea, not other countries, to provide help and protection to the countless Rus who were unable to protect them.
(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jeong)
