DNA Testing Information.
Take As Many DNA Tests As You Can. You Can Transfer Data For Free From Some Paid DNA Testing Sites.

Note:

*While this website is mostly geared toward Adoptees who were adopted through the Korean Adoption Agency Korea Social Service (KSS), there is also information here which is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees, regardless of their Korean Adoption Agency. Please read carefully to note what info. is purely relevant to KSS Adoptees and what is generally relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.

Our DNA Advice.

Commerical DNA Tests:

We recommend first taking 23 and Me and Ancestry (you have to pay for these tests), then transferring your data for FREE from Ancestry to FTDNA and MyHeritage. Adoptees have reported finding family through all of the major DNA testing sites. We cannot more strongly recommend that you test on ALL of the above sites. Adoptees who do not take ALL of the available DNA tests run the risk of missing out on possible relative matches.

Some things to know regarding DNA testing:

Something to know is that FTDNA is the absolute smallest of the major DNA databases.

However it is important for all KADs to take FTDNA (Family Tree DNA), since it is the primary test which has been distributed for free for years to Korean birth parents in Korea (as well as to Korean Adoptees around the world) by the organization 325Kamra.

23 and Me is the largest database in terms of Korean DNA.

Ancestry is the largest database overall. However, Ancestry has less Korean DNA in its database.

MyHeritage is somewhere in the middle.

Because different people take different tests, it's so important to take ALL possible DNA tests.

~

DNA Test Taking Workflow:

*Update 2023: Please note that following 23 and Me’s data breach, you are no longer able to upload raw data to FTDNA from 23 and Me. Please check the DNA tested Korean Adoptee's and Korean War Veterans and their children for the most up-to-date information on transferring raw data for free from one DNA site to another. You can still upload raw data for free to FTDNA from other DNA sites, and if you qualify you can still get a FREE FTDNA test from 325Kamra - please see the forum above for more info.

You can transfer raw data for free from Ancestry to FTDNA and MyHeritage.

We recommend taking 23 and Me and Ancestry first, then transferring raw data for free from Ancestry to FTDNA and MyHeritage.

In our experience, you will get the most possible relative matches from 23 and Me as a Korean Adoptee. The smallest database is FTDNA, but you should definitely be in this database, as FTDNA has been the test distributed to Korean birth parents in Korea by the Korean Adoptee organization 325Kamra (more info. about 325Kamra is further down on this page).

You can also if you so choose join GEDMatch. We recommend that Korean Adoptees join the DNA tested Korean Adoptee's and Korean War Veterans and their children forum on Facebook, where you can ask DNA related questions.

DNA testing is a waiting game. You may not get high matches right away, and you may have to wait years for a high match. When you reach out to any relative matches, please never mention that you are adopted until you are comfortable with the person you are reaching out to, or you know that they are also adopted. Mentioning that you are adopted too early in the process will scare relative matches away.

Police Missing Person’s DNA test in Korea:

You can take the Police Missing Person’s DNA test in Korea at the larger police stations. This requires having a translator if you do not speak Korean. Please note that unlike the US Commercial DNA tests mentioned above (23 and Me, FTDNA, MyHeritage, and Ancestry), the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA test is only a one-to-one DNA test. This means that ONLY if you happen to match a birth parent who has also done the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA test will you be notified of this one-to-one match. You can also attempt to take this test at a Western Embassy, though this is a complicated process (more info. about this further down this page).

More info. on DNA testing for Korean Adoptees can be found below.

Commercial DNA Test Links:

If you are confused about DNA testing, please see the information below:

Korean Police “Missing Persons” DNA Database: Test in Korea or at a Foreign Consulate In Your Home Country.

Update: As of January 2024, this link is no longer available: As of February 2022, here is the link to DNA collecting and registering service through foreign missions for internationally adopted children.

Download this NCRC leaflet about Biological Family Search Through DNA Testing for Adoptees of Unknown Descent

See this page here on the KAS (Korea Adoption Services) site regarding the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test

See this lengthy list of rules regarding the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test

You can take a DNA test at a police station in Korea, for entry into their “Missing Persons” DNA database. Please note that you would definitely need a Korean translator for this process (if you do not speak Korean).

You must be considered to have no biological family information in your Korean adoption file in order to take this test. This process is often made complicated by the fact of many Adoptees’ routine orphanization - whereby the files of children placed for adoption were often falsified, stating that the child was “abandoned”, with “unknown birth parents”. Yet secretly, Korean adoption agencies often kept a file which sometimes contains birth parent for Adoptees, even those who have grown up believing they were “abandoned”. Those who attempt to take the Korean Missing Person’s DNA Test in Korea may be surprised to learn that they were not in fact “abandoned”, but that their Korean adoption agency has had records of their birth parent/s all along - this can be discovered when the police contact the adoption agency and the adoption agency informs the police that the adoption agency has birth parent records for the supposedly “abandoned” child. The police will often then refuse to allow the Adoptee to take the DNA Test. Some Adoptees have been able to get around this, but it makes it more complicated to take this test in Korea or at a Korean Consulate in a Western country.

Adoption Certificate Info:

In order to take this test at a police station in Korea, you may need an Adoption Certificate from your Korean adoption agency. If you take this test through a Korean consulate in a Western country, you will need an NCRC Certificate from NCRC. Please note that these Certificates only last a short time (maybe 2 weeks), so requesting / receiving them in a timely way is challenging, since adoption agencies and NCRC can take so long to respond - often months. Even if you are unable to obtain your Adoption Certificate before attempting to take the test at a police station in Korea, you can try to do so without it. Just keep trying at different police stations.

You need to email your relevant Korean Adoption Agency and request your Adoption Certificate by email, or schedule an appointment to pick up your Adoption Certificate in person in Korean. You must do this BEFORE you visit a police station in Korea to take the Police “Missing Persons” DNA test.

Take a copy of the KSS Adoption Certificate document once obtained to various places in Korea you go for birth family search: police stations, government offices such as Jumin Centers, city halls, etc. Some places require that you have it. You should also always take copies of your adoption paperwork (don’t take originals as you could easily lose them) and your passport when going to these kinds of places for birth family search.

You should budget a few months of time for responses to emails from any Korean Adoption Agency.

Please note: if you are unable to obtain your Adoption Certificate in time, just try going to a Korean police station with copies of your adoption paperwork and your passport and see if they will allow you to do the Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test without your Adoption Certificate.
+

The NCRC Certificate is required for taking the DNA Test through a Korean consulate in your Western country of adoption:

Please note that the Adoption Agency Adoption Certificate is DIFFERENT from the NCRC Certificate you will need in order to take a DNA test at a Korean consulate in your home country.

Please note that the police “Missing Persons” DNA test which can be taken at a major police station in Korea is the SAME DNA test which you can take at a Korean consulate in your home country. Please note that if you are able to successfully take this DNA test, that your DNA sample supposedly remains in Korea’s police DNA database until birth family is found.

Please note that some Korean Adoptees have had difficulty establishing that they are a “Missing Person” if the Adoptee has birth parent names in the version of the file in the Adoptee’s possession. As with all things in Korea - if you don’t have luck with one police station, go to another. 

You can download the forms you need to get the DNA test at your local consulate directly from the NCRC site:

https://www.kadoption.or.kr/en/info/dna_test.jsp

The forms are:

1. Request Form for Certificate for Genetic Testing

2. User Agreement

When you send the forms to NCRC at familysearch@ncrc.or.kr you also need to include a copy of your photo ID and documentation from KSS (such as your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary) stating that you have no family information.

So there are a total of 4 items you need to send them.

Please see this link for more info:

https://mfof.se/download/18.3fb844b2179a8fcfa4548418/1622550452816/Leaflet_Adoption%20Information%20Disclosure%20Service(Eng).pdf?fbclid=IwAR27NLlKKA5GK_GQ2da6S-35xAbna-KRcNga6xiuVE-KNphkteD7gl0rMMI 

+

It’s important to understand that this “Missing Persons” database is NOT like a one-to-many DNA test such as commercial US DNA tests such as 23 and Me, Ancestry, My Heritage and FTDNA, in which you are matched to many different DNA relatives who have also taken those DNA tests. Instead, the Korean police “Missing Persons” database is a one-to-one DNA matching system, in which you would only be notified if you were to match a birth parent in Korea who had also tested and who had filed you as a “Missing Person”. The “Missing Person” qualification is tricky because so many of us were “orphanized”.

You can also attempt to do a test through a local Korean Consulate in the US or Europe (and presumably Australia). However, many Adoptees have reported having difficulty with the “Missing Person” qualification for testing. Korean Adoptees have reported having various experiences and difficulties getting tested in this way. We really cannot predict how your experience will go.

Supposedly once your DNA is in the Korean police “Missing Persons” database, it will be there until you find birth family.

We know of very few Adoptees who have been reunited with birth family through this method - nonetheless, we would encourage you to try this method in order to try all possible methods of DNA testing available to Korean Adoptees.

January 5th, 2024: Important Upate Regarding the Police Missing Person’s DNA test in Korea. Starting in 2024, SIBLINGS who have MISSING siblings can be DNA tested by Korean Police:

Starting in 2024, it appears that the Korean Police are expanding its current Police Missing Person’s DNA test from just Parent / Child matching to Parent / Child / SIBLING matching. This means that it may be possible in the future, as more Adoptees’ Korean SIBLINGS take this DNA test in Korea, for Adoptees to find their siblings who stayed in Korea with their birth parents, and by extension, for Adoptees to find their birth parents. Fingers crossed that Korean siblings decide to take this test!

Update: January 9th, 2024:

A reliable source in Korea has confirmed with a Korean police officer that Adoptees who have taken the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test do NOT have to re-test in order to be included in this new expansion to Korean SIBLING testing.

Please note: A bill was passed in Korea in 2023 which means that now your DNA lasts in the Korean Police Missing Person's DNA Test's system until birth family is found. Previously DNA only lasted in the system for 10 years. (However, a police officer in Korea has said no DNA has ever been deleted from the system. For those able to travel to Korea, it's still advisable to double check with police to be sure your DNA is still active in their system).

Please note, for those who have not previously taken the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test, that you may need an Adoption Certificate from your Korean Adoption Agency in order to take the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test at a police station in Korea, or an NCRC Certificate from NCRC in order to take the Korean Police Missing Person’s DNA Test at a Korean consulate in your Western country of adoption. Contact information for the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies can be found on the Korean Adoptee Starter Guide. Contact information for NCRC can be found on How To Use NCRC For Birth Family Search.

This is as much information as we know for now. For anyone traveling to Korea who has previously taken the Korean Police Missing Person's DNA Test, we recommend double-checking with Korean police regarding whether or not you need to re-test.

See below for more info:

Translations are through ChatGPT:

Article 1:

https://n.news.naver.com/article/003/0012283936?lfrom=kakao

2023.12.25

”Starting next year, even siblings can register their genetic information to find missing children.

The National Police Agency and the National Institute of Scientific Investigation have completed the upgrade of the 'Genetic Information Analysis System,' allowing not only parents but also siblings to register their genes to help locate missing children. The police have been operating the 'Genetic Analysis System' since 2004 to find missing children and individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, mental disorders, and dementia. Over the years, they have collected genetic samples from a total of 41,055 cases, leading to the discovery of 857 long-term missing persons. Notably, there have been cases, such as in March of last year, where a child who went missing in 1981 at Suwon Bus Terminal and was adopted in Germany (at the age of 4) was reunited with his mother after 42 years through genetic analysis at Yeosu Police Station. However, the existing genetic information search system allowed registration and search only for parent-child relationships, and there were limitations in accuracy and security due to the system's aging. A police official stated, "Due to the nature of genetic information analysis, there may not be many matches initially, and accurate results may require the accumulation of a significant amount of data," urging the public's attention and participation.”

~

Article 2:

https://digitalchosun.dizzo.com/site/data/html_dir/2023/12/29/2023122980106.html

2024.01.01

“Starting this year, genetic registration for finding missing children is not only available for parents but also for siblings.

The National Police Agency (Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun) and the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (Acting Director Kim Jin-pyo) announced that they have completed the upgrade of the 'Genetic Information Analysis System' for finding missing children (those under 18 at the time of disappearance, individuals with intellectual, developmental, mental disabilities, and dementia). From 2024, genetic registration for siblings, not just parents, is now possible.

The 'Genetic Analysis System' for finding missing children has been in operation since 2004. The police have collected a total of 41,055 genetic samples, achieving results by discovering 857 long-term missing persons as of October 2023. However, the existing genetic information search system has limitations as it only allowed registration and search for first-degree relationships (parents-child), and its aging system affected search accuracy and security.

In response, the National Police Agency conducted the upgrade project for the genetic information search system, completing development in December. As of this year, genetic registration and search for second-degree relationships (siblings) are now possible for the purpose of finding missing children.

A police official stated, "Due to the nature of genetic information analysis, there may not be many matches initially, and accurate results may require the accumulation of a significant amount of data." They also expressed gratitude for the public's attention and participation.”

DNA Testing Potential Birth Relatives In Korea.

We cannot more strongly recommend that you conduct your own DNA testing against a possible birth parent, sibling, or other family member in Korea.


Tragically, Korean Adoption Agencies have knowingly allowed some Korean Adoptees to be in false reunion with the wrong birth family. This unconscionable practice is why we cannot more strongly recommend that you take a DNA test against any possible birth parent, sibling, or other family member in Korea.

*Please note that most Korean Adoption Agencies such as KSS will conduct their own DNA test before introducing you to possible birth family. We strongly recommend that after the initial DNA test confirmation by your Korean Adoption Agency (in this case KSS) that you conduct your own additional testing, independent of the Korean Adoption Agency.

Also, some Adoptees have never taken a DNA test after being reunified with their “birth family”. Just because you look like possible birth family members does not mean you are necessarily related. Please do the responsible thing and take a DNA test against any possible birth parents, siblings, or other relatives. This helps not only you and the possible birth family to know the truth, but could potentially affect another Adoptee, with whose birth family you may be in false reunion.

There are several possibilities for taking DNA tests in Korea:

1.) When you go to Korea, take your own DNA test/s to give to a possible birth parent, sibling, or other family member in Korea. We strongly recommend taking the test 23 and Me. Because 23 and Me does not ship directly to Korea, you may need to order this test in advance to the US or Europe, and allow time prior to your trip to Korea to receive this test in the mail in the US or Europe. We recommend requesting written permission (of the birth parent, sibling, or other family member in Korea whom you will be administering the 23 and Me test) for you to take the test back to the US / Europe for processing and for you to manage the test results online. Please note that this will require that you pay for the 23 and Me online costs over time. However, this is the best solution since 23 and Me is an English website which particularly older Koreans will be unlikely to know how to manage. When you administer a test, we strongly recommend that you wear plastic food gloves. Be sure to read all instructions before sealing the box to take back home with you to the US or Europe for processing.

Please note that you may need to declare that you are bringing the test kit back into the US.

2.) You can do a one-to-one paternity or maternity test at the Korean Institute of Genetic Information in Seoul. (Note that the KGI paternity / maternity tests only test you against one individual, and is not a one-to-many test such as 23 and Me). The individual you are testing against must accompany you to KGI and sign a consent form for their DNA sample to be taken. Please note that KGI staff do not speak English, and you will need to take a translator both to take the in-person tests and you will later need a translator later to receive and interpret the test results from KGI staff by phone. You can also pay for an English version of your test results. A KGI paternity / maternity test is about $300. Test results take between 4-5 days.

3.) You can do a one-to one paternity or maternity test at DowGene in Seoul. (Note that the DowGene paternity / maternity tests only test you against one individual, and is not a one-to-many test such as 23 and Me). The individual you are testing against must accompany you to DowGene and sign a consent form for their DNA sample to be taken. Please note that DowGene staff do not speak English, and you will need to take a translator both to take the in-person tests and you will later need a translator later to receive and interpret the test results from DowGene staff by phone. You can also pay for an English version of your test results. The test will cost somewhere under $300 (we are not sure of the exact cost). Test results take between 4-5 days.

4.) You can contact 325Kamra to see if you can get a FREE FTDNA test kit while you are in Korea.

DNA Testing.

DNA Testing:

We cannot more highly recommend that you take DNA tests. While you may not feel you have the chance to find birth parents, you may not realize that you could potentially have a twin (or even a triplet/s), or sibling/s or half-sibling/s out there somewhere. The only way to find out for sure is for as many Korean Adoptees as possible to take as many DNA tests as possible.

Given that Korean privacy law protects birth parents’ confidentiality, and that KSS Adoptees’ files often lack birth parent information or contain deliberately false information, we think that all KSS Adoptees (and all Korean Adoptees searching for birth family) should take DNA tests.

If you are confused about DNA testing, please see the information below:

DNA toolbox

~

We recommend joining this forum:

DNA tested Korean Adoptee's and Korean War Veterans and their children

~

If you can only take one test, we recommend taking 23 and Me and uploading your data for free to FTDNA and MyHeritage. But we highly recommend taking all of the commercial DNA tests that you can: 23 and Me, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FTDNA. There is also GEDMatch but we recommend reading about their privacy concerns.

See the DNA toolbox linked above for how to transfer DNA for free from one site to another. 23 and Me is a site you will always have to pay for, but it has the most amount of Korean DNA in its system we believe. As of 2024, you can only transfer raw data for free from Ancestry to FTDNA and MyHeritage.

As an example, one Adoptee on our team has over 700 relative matches on 23 and Me, and only around 60 on FTDNA. But because FTDNA is currently the only test distributed for free to Korean birth parents in Korea, you should definitely transfer your data for free to FTDNA and MyHeritage from Ancestry.

FTDNA is the smallest of the databases, but the only test that is currently distributed to Korean birth parents in Korea by 325Kamra - so you definitely want your DNA in that database.

Why Should I Take A DNA Test?

*Please note that this info. applies to all Korean Adoptees.

The vast majority of Korean Adoptees have closed adoptions, and therefore many of us experience great difficulty in gaining access to our real file information from our Adoption Agencies in the US, Europe, or Korea. Like most Korean Adoptees in general, KSS Adoptees have closed adoptions, and gaining truthful information from KSS or our US or European Adoption Agencies is basically up to chance - many KSS Adoptees have experienced great difficulty in finding their real Korean family history. While US Adoptees can and should file a FOIA request, this option is not open to European Adoptees (though we have heard that in the Netherlands, it is usually possible to obtain the Dutch / English Facing adoption file from Wereldkinderen). A US FOIA request will not return birth parent information typically nor will it initiate a Birth Family Search with KSS (nor with any other Korean or Western adoption agency). For this reason, it is important to take DNA tests, because in many of our cases, DNA is the only truth.

We know of cases in which KSS, in conjunction with its Partner Western Adoption Agencies, has separated siblings and twins. Other Korean Adoption Agencies also separated some pairs of siblings and twins. For this reason, we cannot more strongly encourage you to take as many DNA tests as you can.

We also know of cases where Korean birth parents kept one twin in Korea, but relinquished the other twin for international adoption. Most KSS Adoptees do not have mention of her or his twin in their Adoptive Child Study Summaries, unless KSS twins were adopted together to the same adoptive family.

We additionally know of cases where Korean birth parents kept one or more siblings in Korea, but relinquished one or more children for international adoption. Most KSS Adoptees do not have mention of her or his sibling/s in their Adoptive Child Study Summaries, unless KSS siblings were adopted together to the same adoptive family.

We know of cases in which KSS siblings have been sent to different countries through its Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, in order to make it harder or impossible for these siblings to find each other.

If you are in reunion with Korean birth family, and have not had them take a DNA test, we strongly recommend that you do so. Korean Adoption Agencies have been known to knowingly or unknowingly put Korean Adoptees into false reunion with the wrong birth parents. Just because you look like someone, does not mean that you are related to them. We urge you to have a birth family member with whom you are in reunion take a US based commercial DNA test, such as 23 and Me, My Heritage, Ancestry, or FTDNA. We most strongly recommend the test 23 and Me. (Please see links below).

한국의 생부모를 위한 정보.

Information for Korean Birth Parents.

한국에서 325Kamra에서 무료 DNA 검사를 받아보세요.

DNA Testing in Korea. Get a FREE DNA Test at 325Kamra in Korea.

Kakao ID:  325KAMRA

Phone:  +82 10 7437 7543

Email: DNAkitrequest@325kamra.org

Website: https://www.325kamra.org/