**First lady Kim Hea Kyung, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of a gathering in Seoul of the International Korean Adoptee Associations, Monday. Joint Press Corps**

Let me be clear that I am not a member of the International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA) and do not speak on their behalf. With the eyes of the world on South Korea, they are setting the example for how to restore the Korean children they exported overseas. South Korea has joined a number of countries in sanctioning investigations, issuing public apologies, and promising restorative justice for living survivors.

What remains unacknowledged is the loss of Korean children's lives. What is needed that has not yet happened is swift and immediate action to stop the crimes and prevent more of us from being murdered. I stand in solidarity with those who see through the superficial remarks, empty promises, and outright lies from governments that have continued to run a global child trafficking market.

As a victim of this industry, I was taken from my homeland of South Korea. Along with my own childhood abuse and suicide loss, I continue to witness more children be taken, trafficked, and killed for profit today. I acknowledge the ongoing legacy of genocide, slavery, colonization, and imperialism inflicted on entire populations in the name of adoption. This legacy must end now.

Words have become meaningless. Kim Dae Jung apologized to a roomful of us in 1998. Yet, the "baby export" market continued, more of us have suffered, our families destroyed, and another 100,000 of us were sent overseas since that apology. We heard the words of former President Moon after Baby Jung In was murdered in 2020. He didn't speak to us. Instead, he reassured the buyers in this market that we are returnable and replaceable. Just a year ago, President Lee Jae Myung again apologized, but signed the Hague Adoption Convention, and has kept the child supply market open under the management of the state.

As victims of this industry, we are still fighting for our records and to have our rights and status as human beings restored. We have been bought, sold, enslaved, abused, and far too many have lost our lives. This has gone on long enough. No more superficial gestures and talk, the lack of accountability and action has sent a clear message to us.

The truth is that South Korea is on the verge of extinction. The birth rate continues to be well below the level of population sustainability. Our existence is the proof of prioritizing economic power over its own people. Western American Imperialism continued through Harry and Bertha Holt. South Korea obliged using us to help restore their economy after the Korean War. Now that the country faces its own demise, it has resorted to using desperate measures like paying couples to have sex and welcoming us back on the hope that words will be enough.

However, words are not enough. Immediate actions are needed:

Stop participating in the child supply market.
Stop the crimes of child trafficking and slavery.
Hold everyone involved in these crimes accountable.
Restore our legal status as human beings.

It's through these actions that trust has the opportunity to be rebuilt between us and our homeland. History has proven that civilizations fall when governments put profit over their own people. Today, the stakes have never been higher and we're all witnessing the destructive force of a single phrase: "adoption is in the best interest of the child." All I have to say to the First Lady and the rest of our world leaders is: SHUT IT DOWN.

My Official Response to the First Lady of South Korea