청, Resolving Petition to Find Biological Parents of Norwegian Adoptee... Support Reunion During June Visit to Korea

President Moon Jae-in's 3rd Anniversary in Office Marked by Release of Civil Petition Statistics... Cheong Wa Dae Reports Over 110,000 Petitions Received

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] #Korean adoptee Jo Hye-jung (Katherine Toft, 36), who was adopted to Norway in 1983, requested on June 13, 2019, "Please find my biological parents during the President's visit to Norway." Jo was found as a starving child (no information on biological parents) near the Hyoja-dong police box in Jeonju in February 1983, was protected at Jeonju Orphanage, and was later adopted by Norwegian adoptive parents through Holt Children's Services.

Jo, a Korean adoptee adopted to Norway in 1983, delivered a letter asking President Moon Jae-in to find her biological parents during his visit to Norway. The Blue House conveyed her story through the media and pension lottery, and in October 2019, her biological parents were found. The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to support a reunion during Jo's visit to Korea this June.

#The children's choir composed of elementary and middle school students living in a child care facility in Nonsan, Chungnam (the nation's first orphanage choir), requested a performance at the Blue House on February 6 last year to heal wounds and improve self-esteem.

On July 10 last year, the Blue House invited 37 members of the Nonsan Parangsae Choir and 15 members of the Baramgae Supporters to the Blue House, allowing them to perform at the Blue House Sojeongwon. Afterwards, they had a tea meeting with First Lady Kim Jung-sook at the Blue House main building and were given a special tour of the Blue House.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 8th, the Blue House announced that since President Moon Jae-in's inauguration, a total of 119,896 civil petitions were received by the Presidential Secretariat over the past three years, of which 98% were letter petitions.

The Blue House civil petitions ranged from heartbreaking stories such as the search for the biological parents of a Korean adoptee in Norway to special stories like the Nonsan children's choir's request to perform at the Blue House.

The Blue House explained, "By type of petition, requests for relief from life difficulties were the most common (44.4%, 13,170 cases), followed by requests for investigation, audit, and inquiry (21.4%, 6,360 cases), wishes for selection (5.9%), and policy proposals (5.1%)."

Regarding regions, the Blue House stated, "The Seoul metropolitan area accounted for the largest share (36.4%), followed by Yeongnam (17.0%), Honam (10.9%), overseas (10.7%), Chungcheong (7.1%), Gangwon (2.8%), and Jeju (0.8%). Regarding the handling agencies, central administrative agencies accounted for the most cases (84.9%, 25,182 cases), followed by local governments (9.0%, 2,659 cases), public institutions (5.8%, 1,731 cases), and educational institutions (0.34%, 89 cases)."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.