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The Question of Adoption : ‘Divided’ Korea, ‘Neutral’ Sweden, and Cold War Geopolitics, 1964–75

Koo, Youngeun LU (2021) In Journal of Asian Studies 80(3). p.563-585
Abstract
This article examines the early development of South Korean intercountry adoption to Sweden. It focuses particularly on two disruptions in the movement of children between the two nations, drawing on archival sources in Sweden, South Korea, and Denmark. The article demonstrates that South Korean–Swedish adoption was deeply bound up in the shifting Cold War relations within and between the Korean peninsula and Scandinavia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Further, state actions and strategies during this time reveal that both governments actively utilized their Cold War foreign policy and positionality to shape adoption to meet their respective national interests. This study extends US-centered adoption scholarship by revealing broader... (More)
This article examines the early development of South Korean intercountry adoption to Sweden. It focuses particularly on two disruptions in the movement of children between the two nations, drawing on archival sources in Sweden, South Korea, and Denmark. The article demonstrates that South Korean–Swedish adoption was deeply bound up in the shifting Cold War relations within and between the Korean peninsula and Scandinavia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Further, state actions and strategies during this time reveal that both governments actively utilized their Cold War foreign policy and positionality to shape adoption to meet their respective national interests. This study extends US-centered adoption scholarship by revealing broader implications of Cold War geopolitics in cross-border adoptions to Scandinavia and, more importantly, significant ways in which intercountry adoption challenged, altered, and constituted the Cold War relations and nation-building projects of both sending and receiving states.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
children in need, Cold War, geopolitics, international adoption, Korea, Sweden, welfare state
in
Journal of Asian Studies
volume
80
issue
3
pages
563 - 585
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85100875591
ISSN
1752-0401
DOI
10.1017/S0021911820004581
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
d0737103-5c52-4150-ba8b-aae1eb016427
date added to LUP
2025-01-23 15:46:03
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:25:26
@article{d0737103-5c52-4150-ba8b-aae1eb016427,
  abstract     = {{This article examines the early development of South Korean intercountry adoption to Sweden. It focuses particularly on two disruptions in the movement of children between the two nations, drawing on archival sources in Sweden, South Korea, and Denmark. The article demonstrates that South Korean–Swedish adoption was deeply bound up in the shifting Cold War relations within and between the Korean peninsula and Scandinavia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Further, state actions and strategies during this time reveal that both governments actively utilized their Cold War foreign policy and positionality to shape adoption to meet their respective national interests. This study extends US-centered adoption scholarship by revealing broader implications of Cold War geopolitics in cross-border adoptions to Scandinavia and, more importantly, significant ways in which intercountry adoption challenged, altered, and constituted the Cold War relations and nation-building projects of both sending and receiving states.<br/><br/>}},
  author       = {{Koo, Youngeun}},
  issn         = {{1752-0401}},
  keywords     = {{children in need; Cold War; geopolitics; international adoption; Korea; Sweden; welfare state}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{563--585}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Journal of Asian Studies}},
  title        = {{The Question of Adoption : ‘Divided’ Korea, ‘Neutral’ Sweden, and Cold War Geopolitics, 1964–75}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021911820004581}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/S0021911820004581}},
  volume       = {{80}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}