Seoul, South Korea CNN —South Korea has for decades been known as the world’s largest “baby exporter” – sending hundreds of thousands of children overseas after the country was ravaged by war and many mothers left destitute. Searching for their rootsMore than 200,000 South Korean children have been adopted overseas since the 1950s following World War II and the Korean War, according to authorities. While adoptions continue today, the trend has been declining since the 2010s after South Korea amended its adoption laws in an effort to address systematic issues and reduce the number of children adopted overseas. “It’s truly terrifying to hear how systemic these issues were, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily surprising,” said Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten, who was adopted from South Korea and grew up in Sweden. “There is still much about Korean adoption that has not been formally acknowledged.”

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Persons: ”, adoptees, “, Susanné Seong, Mark Zastrow, Bergsten Organizations: South Korea CNN, Commission, CNN, Korean Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Korea, Korean, Daegu, Sejong, United States, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Europe, It’s, Sweden, adoptees