President Moon Criticized For Remarks on Adopted Children

It looks like President Moon stepped into an unforced controversy with some remarks he recently made:

A coalition of adoptive parents and adoption activists slammed President Moon Jae-in Tuesday for remarks about allowing people to swap their adopted children if they fail to get along, saying they could discourage people thinking about adopting.  

In a press conference held near the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, representatives of the group, whose name roughly translates as the National Adoptive Families’ Coalition, also criticized the Blue House’s follow-up explanation of Moon’s remarks, calling it a “secondary attack” on adoptive parents-to-be.  

The controversy began Monday as Moon was taking questions from Blue House correspondents in a New Year’s press conference. At one point, the topic turned to the October death of Jeong-in, a 16-month-old toddler who allegedly suffered physical abuse from her adoptive mother.  

The case caught public attention only recently after a local broadcaster aired an investigative report on it.  

“It is heartbreaking to hear about the deaths of young children abused at home, and I agree that the country has to address the issue full on,” Moon said Monday during the press conference. “We have to come up with a system that will be able to detect earlier on signs that the children are being abused at home, and then separate the children from their parents once these signs are detected.”  

Then came the contentious statements.  

“There should be thorough research beforehand to find out if the parents are fit to adopt children […] and even after the adoption, the family should be checked on to see if the adoption is working out,” he said. “If it is not, then there should be measures to cancel the adoption. […] If the problem is that the parents don’t get along with the children, then they should be able to find ways to make it work, such as changing the adopted child.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration is in damage control right now and are already walking back President Moon’s comments.