This article argues that South Korea’s long-running international adoption system was not just flawed, but driven by state policies that prioritized cost-saving and social control over children’s rights. It explains that from the post-Korean War period through the late 20th century, government-backed practices enabled widespread fraud—such as falsified identities, children wrongly labeled as orphans, and coerced or fabricated consent—resulting in hundreds of thousands of children being sent abroad, often unnecessarily