Last Friday, eight Danes who were adopted from South Korea in the late 1900s sent a claim for damages to the Danish state for human rights violations. According to information provided to Danish TV 2, they are demanding 250,000 Danish kronor, equivalent to 385,000 kronor, per person.
It involves a public acknowledgment that the state has violated their rights, says their lawyer Lisa Dalgas Christensen to TV 2.
Two of those seeking damages are Sofie Randel and her brother Nikolaj Dausell, who were adopted from South Korea in 1977.
They believed they were abandoned children, but in connection with work on a documentary film in 2023, they found their biological family.
It was an immediate family feeling. For me, it was overwhelming to discover how much I carry my heritage. It has been life-changing, says Sofie Randel to Danish TV 2.
Now she wants redress for what she considers to be an illegal adoption.
You can't just steal children and place them somewhere in the world. The Danish state, which I have so much respect for, still seems to not want to take responsibility, she says.
