500 Korean adoptees from 15 countries to gather

Hundreds of Korean adoptees will gather in the heart of their birth country this weekend.

GOAL (Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link), a Seoul-based NGO founded to support Korean adoptees worldwide, said in a release it will host its annual conference for three days from Friday at the Seoul Olympic Parktel in southern Seoul.

More adoptees will attend this year’s conference than before, the organization said, as it is the 10th anniversary of its founding.

“In previous years, around 200 to 300 adoptees attended the conference,” said Baek Joo-yeon, who is helping to organize the event. “This year we expect up to 500 adoptees from 15 countries to come for the event.”

Some special events are being planned to celebrate the gathering.

Six career photographers, who are adoptees, will exhibit their works under the title “Our Space: Six Perspectives.” The participating artists are Lia Hyun-joo Barret and Todd Heckert from the United States, Raphael Bourgeois from Belgium, Eric Perriard from France, Kim Sperling from Denmark and Aram Tanis from the Netherlands.

Denis Sung-ho Janssen, a classical guitarist adopted into a Belgian family, will perform and Kevin Shea, another Korean adoptee who is a well-known standup comic in the U.S., will lighten the mood with a comedy show.

Among other events are performances by a B-boy crew and a samulnori team. Also slated are a post-conference social gathering and a trip to “Jump,” a comic martial arts performance by a local theater group.

By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Reporter [joe@joongang.co.kr]