[Korean study series 32]

필자는 정치적 논쟁에서 다루어진, 한국입양문제의 추이와 한국으로부터 해외에 입양된 국제입양의 역사를 제시하고 한국대중문화, 즉 일반영화나 팝송에서 입양 한국인이 어떻게 묘사되고 있는지를 심도 있게 다루고 있다.
입양문제는 한민족의 단일성과 동질성을 혼란케 하며, 국가의 정치적 독립과 경제적 성공까지 건드릴 수 있는 민족적 상처로 보이고 있으며, 또한 입양문제는 난처한 과거문제를 조화롭게 정화시키고 국적을 초월한 해외소수민족으로서의 한국민 공동의 미래문제를 그리는 시도로 고려될 수 있는 것이다.

The author provides the history of international adoption from Korea and the development of the Korean adoption issue in the political discussion, and examines how overseas adopted Koreans are represented in Korean popular culture, feature films and pop songs. The adoption issue is a national trauma threatening to disrupt the unity and homogeneity of the Korean nation, and to question the country’s political independence and economic success. The adoption issue can also be seen as an attempt at reconciling with a difficult past and imagining a common future for all ethnic Koreans at a transnational level.

Acknowledgments

1. Preliminary and introduction
Related and comparative studies
Ethnic and postcolonial nationalism
Postcolonial perspectives and processes
Reading contemporary cultural texts

2. Korean adoption history
Early predecessors
Children of war
The adoption industry
New directions
Demographic overview

3. The Korean adoption issue
The orphan exporting country
Adopted Koreans in the media
Kim Dae Jung and the adoption issue
Adoption in Korean popular culture

4. The nation is a woman
The maternalisation of roots
The suffering and shaming of Korea
Korean nationalism intervenes

5. Beyond Koreanness and Whiteness
The miserable life of an adoptee
The perilous act of passing
A third space existence

6. The separated family
Representing family division
Korea’s abjected children
Healing a fractured nation

7. Envisioning a global Koreatown
The Korean experience with globalisation
Visiting the overseas brethren and sistren
The transnational Korean community

8. Summary and conclusion
International adoption from Korea and the Korean adoption issue
Representations of adopted Koreans in Korean popular culture
Between reconciling with the past and imagining the future

References
Appendices
1. Number of international adoptions from Korea, 1953-2004
2. Destination by country of adopted Koreans, 1953-2004
3. Family background and category of adopted Koreans, 1958-2004