On the recordSeptember 10, 1999
I feel compelled to say something about a special group of people. There is a wonderful gathering of people in Washington. As you know, we have hundreds and thousands of people who come every week to Washington. We cannot come to the floor to talk about every group that comes to Washington because then we would be on the floor for a long time. But there is a very special group in Washington, and it is a group of 400 Korean American, American Korean adults who were adopted from Korea in the 1950s and 1960s. I will read from a wonderful article that appeared in USA Today yesterday about one particular orphan and her experience. But I want to say how proud I am, as cochair of the Adoption Caucus, to host, with many Members of this body, this gathering of Americans who have come, actually, from all over the world--it is not just Korean adoptees from America but from Europe and other places who were adopted out of Korea--to share their stories. This is one story by war orphan No. 1371. She is a writer for USA Today at this time in her life. She writes: Malnutrition and a bacterial infection had drawn all but 8 pounds from my 24-inch frame. My thick black hair teemed with lice; my body glistened with circles of fresh infection created by oozing sores that covered 80% of my body. Yet somehow I survived.…
Said by
Mitch Landrieu
Source
govinfo.gov