My adoption history - how I met my biological father | My Journey in Korea | Maria Park

hey guys so this video is gonna be a little bit different than the videos i usually upload from my trip as you have probably read in the title it's gonna be about my adoption history and my journey to find my biological parents here in korea so for those of you who don't know i was adopted so i was born here in seoul actually and then adopted to denmark when i was about eight to nine months old when i was in quarantine already back in end of march when i arrived in korea while i was in quarantine i called the adoption agency it's called halt international maybe i put a picture here and a few days after i was out of quarantine already i went to their office it's in hongdae and so i went there i had an appointment and i had basically asked like if they had any records maybe on why i was adopted away i was not really having high expectations to finding my biological parents so i went there and they had some records on my parents and how they met who they were and why i was adopted away a little bit about my biological parents it was described that my biological mother was small and more an introvert kind of person and she had another child so it means i have a half brother and my dad he was described as more of an extrovert person so it seems like i personally resemble my biological father more and they were both not too tall so that probably also explained why i'm only about 156 centimeters tall so i read all the documents through part of the story was a little bit hard to read i didn't know it would affect me in the way it did after i was done reading all the documents through a representative at holtz asked me if i wanted to do a search for my biological parents so i decided to do so and the way it works in korea you can't just look up people's address or their name or their personal number i forgot what it's called there's like a korean personal number you have so it has to go through the government halts as an adoption agency they send a letter to them the government asking them to confirm the information they have on these people in my case i was really lucky they had enough information on my biological parents to start doing the search it takes about a week one and a half week until the government comes back and either confirms or deconfirms the information so the good news were they found both of my biological parents unfortunately turned out that my biological mother had passed away in 2019. for me it's kind of crazy to think about because that was the year that i really wanted to go to korea that i was starting to think about i want to do a longer trip to asia go to korea so it's just crazy to think about imagine if i had gone back in 2019 would i already like maybe i would have met her kind of weird to think about i've never met this woman but still i was really sad to hear that she had passed away maybe especially because it's so recently and because if the timing had been different if corona and everything haven't happened maybe it would have gone sooner but it is what it is then i asked if it would be possible to do a search or like get in contact with my half brother but unfortunately they are not allowed to get that kind of information they are also not allowed to get any information as to why she passed away how she passed away or where she is buried so it pretty much seemed like a dead end at that point and reading her story what she went through and why she decided to give me up for adoption i really wanted to meet her but unfortunately that was not possible further down in the email there was some information about my biological father turns out they found him as well they confirmed his registered address so the representative at halt informed me that they're going to start the procedure of contacting him and the way it works is that they send in total three letters if after the third attempt to contact him and there's no response they will close the case and consider it done there were there were made two attempts to hit his registered address the postman goes to the address and hands it over personally but no one was home so they said we will do um third attempt and this time it will be a different letter it will be left in the mailbox just a few days ago i think two days ago i got another email with some good news basically my biological father sought a letter from hull he called the representative when the representative explained him the situation my birth father realized that it was about me so already in the beginning when i went to halt and they asked me if i want to do the search for my biological parents i asked them just to know what to expect i asked them what are your success rates for people who come here and look for their biological parents and he told me that it's about 20 so really low also why i didn't have huge expectations and i especially did not have big expectations to my birth father wanting to to meet me if he even knew that i existed but the representative told me he had been talking to him and he agreed to provide me with some information basically he's alive he's well he's in seoul and he even agreed that he would like to create a stronger relationship a closer relationship between me and him my god he said he doesn't speak any english but holtz international are providing a service which means that we can communicate through them and they will translate for us unfortunately today is my last day here in korea it's the 18th and i'm flying tomorrow already at 9 00 a.m so today would be the last day that i would be able to meet up with my biological father but unfortunately this is the exact day that the representative from holz is out of office so it seems like it will not be possible to do so to meet him but all i can do right now i guess is he asked me to write a letter for him and he would translate it for him and he said not only would he be interested in creating a relationship with me um through letters but also would like to meet someday in person it's a little it's a pity that we're both in seoul we're so close i mean seoul is big but like we're in the same city maybe won't possible to meet this time it won't be possible to meet this time unfortunately yeah i prepared the letter i sent it off i will send some some pictures later and everything and then let's see at a certain point i will for sure i mean especially now i will for sure return to korea and once i do meet my biological father i will share everything with you and i will keep you updated so my plans for my last day in korea changed drastically after i stopped recording that video after i stopped recording and i went to meet a friend for lunch at 12 and while i was waiting i got an email saying like urgent email and it was from the adoption agency so the representative from holtz basically said like i spoke with your biological father and he would also like to meet you so if you have time today please come by the office at 4 30. so literally four hours later so i had lunch with my friend until around two and then i went back to the hotel just to walk in circles 20 times like because it was so spontaneous i didn't have any time to really get nervous or think a whole lot or anything so basically i just i went to the adoption agency i didn't want to be too early and i didn't wanna definitely didn't wanna be late also because the representative had told me like it would be hard to find a translator on such short notice but i will try and later he then texted me that he found someone but she's volunteering her time so she will only be able to stay with us for a few hours which is that was also fine so i go to the floor um they have a specific department dedicated only to people who come back um to find their biological family and i stand in the hallway and there's not really anyone around and then a lady comes up the stairs and she's like do you have an apartment and i'm like yeah i have an apartment at 4 30. and she said like oh you're here to meet your biological father aren't you and i was like yes and as i said earlier um the success rate for people who came back and looked for their biological parents was only around 20 so it was known um that someone today is coming we have a success story today so she very kindly led me into a room so i was sitting there waiting she closed the door and at this point all i can think about is like what does he look like will i be able to see like we're related will i look like him and also will i feel some kind of special connection or something this was the only thing that i could really like think about at that point then suddenly it knocks on the door and i'm like is this it like am i not getting any warning or like some kind of i don't know like some kind of notice like now it's gonna happen is he just gonna walk in the door a lady comes in and the representative from halt that i've been in contact with who has a day off also comes in through the door the lady is basically the translator so of course i'm so thankful for these people because she is spending her own private time on being there just for this to happen and the representative from hall basically canceled his vacation day so that we could meet because without him it wouldn't be possible he says first so your father came about 30 minutes ago i've been talking with him do you have any questions before i go go get him and i'm like no i don't think so and then he said okay then if you're ready i will go get him now so the representative from hall goes out the room and i sit alone with the translator so i'm sitting here and she's sitting next to me and at this point i can just like feel i'm getting so emotional like it's just like the weird feeling of okay it's been so long like i started this over a month ago and now i know that my biological father is in the same building as me then the guy from halt comes in again and then he opens the door a little bit more and then my biological father comes in he's wearing a face mask but i just first thing i look at like i see his eyes and i just instantly like recognize it i'm like yeah and like i can see that we're related i can't even see his whole face but just like the eyes i just i could see it and then he says something and the translator translates like she looks like her mother she looks exactly like her mother and then i just start crying we sit down i still sit here translated here and my father sits across the table from me and he starts talking and he pulls out an envelope from his inner pocket and he gives it to me it's the envelope from which he got the letter from the adoption agency and in it is a lot of pictures of him and my mom basically he explains that so he was married before and then after he met my mother they were together five years before i was born and until she passed away so nearly 30 years then he also takes out a phone and he says this was the last thing your mom carried with her when she passed away so if you want it you can have it of course i said um yes that's the first time i saw my mother and i just barely couldn't see anything because i was like crying so much and then he also says like the last thing she said before she passed away was please find yongju which is my korean name and then basically we were talking he was explaining that when i was born they had to work really hard to make money i also had a heart condition when i was a baby it was for financial reasons that i was adopted away yeah i knew i had a half brother and then my father also told me that i also have to have sisters from his previous marriage yeah we were talking and he was telling stories i was telling stories about my life and about my trip to korea there's a lot of coincidence there as well for example the hotel i was staying on and when i went to the island in jeju when he usually goes to jeju because he sells fruit so he usually goes there to talk with the suppliers he stays at a hotel that is literally like two minutes walk from the hotel i stayed at in that city so at some points we were still really close which is crazy like from the whole island the two hotels we stay on are so close to each other and then in the end he said what is your favorite food because i want to treat you with dinner me in the best maria way i'm like i don't know what i want to eat i don't know where i want to eat so he picks a korean restaurant that is close to the adoption agency and he invites me and the translator and the guy from holz out to eat so we go out and we have some korean barbecue i ate so much that day and it was so good so basically in the end he says i will call a taxi driver now that comes and pick you up he takes you to the hotel tonight and tomorrow morning he will pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport so the night ended and kept saying like you look so much like your mother like from like he says like that the first half of my face is like identical to my mother's the taxi driver comes he drives me and my father back to the hotel after that i meet with some friends because i was supposed to meet my friends for dinner that night but i had to tell them like i don't think i'm gonna make it for dinner so i will join you for drinks later at this point i'm super emotional like just thinking about it i got like tears in my eyes definitely was not gonna meet up with my friends and tell them about it and just cry the whole night like so i didn't tell them actually there's a lot of friends i haven't told yet not because i don't want to share my story but because now a month later over a month later this is first now i can talk about it without crying still now at some points of the story i have to like hold back the tears the next morning the taxi driver comes at 4am then we drive to pick up my father and we go to the airport together first we go for a coffee because the check-in wasn't open and i asked him if i have any niece and nephews and i have a niece and a nephew and he shows me some pictures and videos and then we go check in my luggage and i think okay like he probably has to work and he was up really early so i would just like after we checked in my luggage i will go through security it was around 6 30 and i had to board around nine and then he said um let's go get something to eat so we basically found a place and we got some breakfast together and obviously we can't talk communicate because he doesn't speak english and i don't speak korean so few words i understand and few words he understands in english and other than that we're using like translate and he sends some messages like this is your mom's birthday this is the day she passed away that day wednesday not many knew about my existence so that day he called my mom's sister told her that tonight a few hours i have a meeting with your niece and she didn't know i existed up until that point i think now most of the family the rest of the family knows about me at a certain point he also says your mom can close her eyes now because jungkook is home then after some time around 8 30 i go through security and and that whole flight home was like 13 hours to paris i think i was crying 10 hours out of 13 like i just couldn't that time and until like really until two three weeks later was just like just thinking about the whole situation i still have contact with my father we text more or less every day and i also got contact with my sisters there is a big holiday in september so i will go to korea again in september i already booked the tickets so i guess that's it to be continued maybe i will make some more videos about that trip it's basically like holiday where you get together with the family and you thank your ancestors and yeah so it's kind of now the perfect time for me to go back to korea and meet the rest of the family so i'm really excited for that and in general the whole career trip like you saw in the beginning of the video it was a bit of an up and down finding my biological parents first and um getting this meeting to happen there are so many people involved in my whole career trip random people i met strangers who helped me really spend a lot of time helping me i could tell so many stories but all in all this trip was really like literally life changing for me and the whole experience with meeting my biological father put a lot of things in perspective and change my priorities a bit and definitely make me think about my future and my next steps in life first i only i was only going to stay until the 28th of april and i extended it to may and it was only possible to meet with my father on the very last day so i don't know if i believe in destiny but it does seem like a lot of puzzles were misplaced and in the end somehow came together this whole trip was definitely worth it and in the end i totally see the meaning with going and the last thing i just wanted to say thank you for following my journey thank you so much for watching now that will be yet to con to be continued and i know there is one other video that i recorded after i came back from korea so yeah still if you would like stay tuned on the channel i might make some more videos maybe i will give you an update on the next time i go to korea so thank you so much for watching stay healthy and i'll see you in the next one bye

Channel: Maria Park

Views: 58,068

Keywords: Adoption, My adoption history, Reunited with my father, Biological parents, Biological father, Biological mother, Adoption search, Success story, Travel vlog, Adopted from korea, My story, I was adopted, Adopted from South Korea, Adopted to Denmark, I am adopted, South korea, Born in seoul, How i met my father, Seoul korea, Seoul, Korea travel, Travel to korea, Vlog, Blog, Korean family, korean, korean father, korean daughter, korea, meeting for the first time, new beginnings

Id: 4c5ESBpzS1s

Length: 20min 41sec (1241 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 29 2022