Norwegian mother writes book to answer son’s questions about his adoption from Korea

A couple uneasily entered a pediatrics ward in Bergen, Norway, holding their young son in December 1998. At the reception desk, they write down the boy’s name: Anders Hyun Molvik Botnmark. The same child, now a young man, rummaged through an old blue travel bag when he was 22 and asked, “Is this really it, Mom?” It was that moment when Kristine Molvik Botnmark, Anders’ stepmother and a sociologist, decided to write “Adopsjonsoppgjøret” (“To Your Korean Mother” in Korean). She adopted her son knowing that one day he would grow curious about his roots, but all she would be able to give him was a photograph of himself as a baby and a handful of documents stating that no information was available about his biological parents. She trusted the words of the adoption agency. However, there were records detailing how Anders was left with a foster family, meaning the Korean agency knew who his biological parents were. To resolve that contradiction, the author delved deeply into international adoption as an industry. Family registries were altered with the stroke of a pen to speed u

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