Week 9: Adopted Territory Part 2

       One of the interesting things Kim points out in the second part of her book Adopted Territory is how national officials must be mournful of the circumstances concerning adoptees and must overly express their remorse through an exaggerated display of affection.  Indeed, "The minister framed his declaration of love as an expression of the nation's paternalistic affection and pride in its children" (172).  This expression of mournful love reminded me of female Filipino mothers who migrated away from their families in order to provide for their children.  Both the mother-away woman and the Korean "motherland" must be mournful of the loss of their family.  The state sees the need to compensate and apologize to adoptees, at least on the surface.  "In 1999, the Korean government passed the controversial Overseas Korean Act (OKA), which officially extended recognition to ethnic Koreans who were foreign nationals or permanent residents in other countries," however, "this legislation was broadly considered to be a government attempt to attract foreign investments from wealthy Korean Americans" (179).  Kim indicates that the state manipulates adoptees to their own advantage when they "welcome" these adoptees home.  She states that, "In my observations, official messages from the government present maternalistic or paternalistic desires to embrace adoptees as family, but these expressions are shot through with ambivalence about who adoptees are (Korean/Western, children/adults, tragic/lucky), and whether or not they will be able to forgive and forget enough to accept their role as ambassador and bridges connecting Korea to the West" (183).  As if these adoptees weren't exploited enough, now the government would turn them into their own agents to increase business endeavors with the West.  This duality is reflected in the Korean identity.  One the one hand they're not Korean enough and on the other hand they are the most privileged people ever because they are fully Westernized.  The government seems to ignore the fact that native Koreans would not see adoptees as Korean enough, they are only interested in Western aspects of the adoptees' identity.

       Another one of Kim's points in the second half of her book is discussing the relationship between adoptees and native Koreans, especially those Koreans who volunteer at adoptee conferences.  One of the standing questions that she poses is: should native Koreans be included in adoptee events and gatherings?  The conferences themselves seem to want to establish a relation exclusively between adoptees, and, indeed, adoptees do need their own space but they also need to interact with others so that their experiences can be more broadly understood.  "Indeed, the strict boundary maintenance at the Gathering was felt by some dedicated Korean volunteers to be a harsh rejection of the friendship and support they had extended to adoptees to help them feel welcome in Korea" (213).  This is evident in the survey Kim conducted where some Koreans didn't consider adoptees Korean at all (some believe it was because of the belief in pure racial blood or "one blood").  But others did want to understand adoptees but were barred from doing so.  Kim explains that the barriers Koreans face with the interaction (or lack thereof) with adoptees can be said to reflect adoptees who want to establish their own territory or space within Korean, they are trying to understand Korea through their own adoptee lens.