SEOUL, South Korea — On Wednesday, a South Korean court ruled that neither the government nor an adoption agency would be held responsible in a lawsuit from Adam Crapser, a 49-year-old man whose adoption experience resulted in a traumatic childhood in the United States and eventual deportation back to Korea in 2016 due to legal issues.

The Seoul High Court’s decision involved the case of Crapser, whose adoptive parents in the U.S. did not secure his citizenship after adoption. This ruling overturned a previous 2023 decision by the Seoul Central District Court, which had mandated that Holt Children’s Services pay Crapser 100 million won (approximately $68,600) as compensation. The lower court had determined that Holt failed to inform Crapser’s adoptive parents about the need to take further steps to obtain his citizenship, but ultimately did not hold the government liable for his circumstances. The details of the high court’s ruling were not immediately accessible, and Crapser was not present for the announcement.

Crapser, a father to two children, claims to have experienced abuse and neglect at the hands of two separate adoptive families who bypassed the citizenship process. During his troubled life, he faced legal issues, including an incident where he broke into his adoptive parents’ home to retrieve a Bible that accompanied him from the orphanage, which contributed to his deportation as he lacked U.S. citizenship.

In response to the allegations against them, both the government and Holt cited a two-decade-old adoption law from the 1970s, which was enacted during a military dictatorship, intended to expedite the adoption process. This legislation, introduced in January 1977, relaxed the requirements for adoption agencies regarding checks on the citizenship status of adopted children and removed judicial oversight from foreign adoptions as part of a broader initiative to facilitate quicker processing.

The officials from the government and Holt, which managed Crapser’s adoption to Michigan in 1979, invoked this law in their defense, arguing that they were under no legal obligation to ensure he attained citizenship. Critics, however, assert that this legislation fostered lapses in care and promoted fraudulent practices within what is thought to be the largest international adoption program in history. Between the 1960s and 1980s, South Korea was under military rule that prioritized economic development, using adoption as a means to reduce dependency on resources and strengthen ties with Western nations.

Crapser’s attorney has not yet indicated whether they plan to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. The Justice Ministry and Holt did not provide any comments immediately following the court’s verdict.

In 1979 alone, over 4,000 Korean children were sent abroad, including Crapser, who arrived in Michigan at just three years old. He became the first Korean adoptee to file a lawsuit against the South Korean government and an adoption agency for damages back in 2019.

Additionally, the government and Holt were named in a separate lawsuit last year by a Korean birth mother, alleging that they were responsible for the adoption of her daughter to the U.S. in 1976, months after the girl had been kidnapped at age four.

These lawsuits and an ongoing investigation into claims from numerous adoptees concerning falsified or obscured origins have intensified scrutiny on the South Korean government to rectify the pervasive fraud and unethical practices of the past. Crapser’s claims specifically accused Holt of altering his background documentation to inaccurately label him as an orphan despite having a known birth mother, subsequently placing him with abusive adoptive families due to inadequate background checks and not ensuring he achieved U.S. citizenship.

Furthermore, the lawsuit implicated government officials for neglecting to uphold Crapser’s constitutional rights as a South Korean child, failing to adequately monitor the agency responsible for managing foreign adoptions, and not verifying that his adoption was sanctioned by appropriate consent or that his adoptive families met the necessary qualifications to provide a stable home.