The Korean War, Orphans and The Holts (early to mid 1950s)

The Korean War lasted 3 years from June 1950 to July of 1953. It was primarily between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The United States sided with the Republic of Korea along with the allied nations of the United Nations. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was supported by China and got a lot of help from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This was all due to the result of political division in Korea, hence the long, drawn out names of the divisions of Korea. The political divide came from the end of World War II. This is where the victorious Allies made the agreement to divvy up Korea.

Within Korean, the North established a very communist government, while the South established one based upon capitalism. A lot of tension came about when negations took place and no one was ever happy. Actual warfare started when the aggressive Northern part of Korean invaded the South in 1950. This was also considered the first significant conflict of arms of the Cold War. Many tactics from WWI and WWII were present in the Korean War. Trench war and bombing raids were common.

With the war ending on 27 July 1953, a armistice agreement was signed. This agreement created a restored border between North and South Korea near the 38th Parallel. This created Korean Demilitarized Zone which is now a 2.5-mile wide buffer zone. Outbreaks of drama and fighting still happen in the present day.

One huge affect of war was many Korean children that were left as orphans. In addition to the full Korean children left in terrible, over-crowded orphans. A huge number of mixed-race babies were left as well. These children were called, ‘G.I babies’ which were created from American and other western soldiers and Korean women. This was probably due to The United States making up a whopping 88% of foreign troops while the United Nations made up the other 12 helping South Korea.

 This is where Korea started to use children as one of their #1 sources of economic growth. With so many excess orphans, Korean became the #1 exporters of babies being adopted to other countries (like the U.S.). This primarily started with Harry and Bertha Holt in 1954. This religious and loving couple were raising 6 of their own kids and decided to adopt some of the Korean orphans left from the Korean War after they saw a film about G.I babies and how they lived to suffer under bad conditions. From what started with a heart of compassion, the Holts adopted 8 children to add to their already 6 kids at home. They even had to get a bill passed by Congress which allowed them to adopt the 8 children in 1955. This took a few months and was rightfully called the “Holt Bill.” There is now also an adoption agency called the Holt adoption agency that caters to and sponsors kids all over the world. The Holts' story created an inspired nation and a new movement to adopt the leftover orphans from the Korea War.

Submitted by: Lauren Fukuzawa