South Korea’s global baby adoption programme leaves ‘gaping hole’ in adoptee’s heart

Several years ago, an ethnic Korean man in his early twenties sat next to me in my basic Korean language classes in Seoul.

He would not have stood out in a sea of Korean faces in the bustling Shinchon district where the school is located.

The unsmiling and serious young man said he had often been confused about his identity and cultural heritage.

Coming back to the land of his birth was not easy, as strangers were surprised – even infuriated – when they realised he spoke little or no Korean.