DNA Reunites Korean Siblings

“Two siblings separated and abandoned in South Korea when they were two and four, have finally been reunited with each other thanks to a DNA test.

Siblings Justin Kragt and Renee Alanko were abandoned in Seoul in 1984.

Kragt was adopted by a family in Salem, Oregon while his sister was adopted and raised in Marin County, California. The two ended up living 600 miles apart and were clueless that the other existed.

But that changed this summer when Alanko did a DNA test through 23andMe.

Kragt also took that test in 2014, hoping to find distant relatives and was successful, but receive a sibling match.

He always thought he was abandoned because he was special needs and was born with congenital heart failure.

‘I was content with that. I heard other people that had horrible stories and I just thought I’ll believe in my Harry Potter story,’ he said to the Oregonian.

Alanko was also desperate to reconnect with her family. She was just four when she was abandoned in a marketplace by her father who left her with a note that said: ‘Please send this child to an orphanage through police station. At present, she has no parents.’

She was able to tell police her name was Jee Young Lee and her father was Kyung Kuk Lee. She said her mother ran away because her father drank too much and beat her.

Alanko returned to South Korea in 2008 to search for her family but found no leads.

In June she decided to take the 23andMe DNA test and received a sibling match that said her brother was living in Salem, according to ABC.

Her adoption report had failed to mention that she had a brother.

But her adoptive mother recalled that when she first arrived in the U.S. she talked about how cute her ‘baby brother’ was.

Alanko reached out to Kragt and learned the two learned they were abandoned in neighboring districts of Seoul and within a day of each other.

‘When I went back to Korea in 2008 and did a birth family search, I met Korean adoptees from France, Denmark, Germany… realizing that Justin had been living one state above me for all this time… what a mind trip!’ Alanko said to DailyMail.com.

Finally last week the two were reunited as Alanko flew to Oregon to face her brother for the first time in decades on his 36th birthday.

Once she landed and the siblings locked eyes at Portland International Airport, they rushed into each other’s arms for a tearful embrace.

‘I knew about him all this time. I just never thought I’d ever meet him. … This is really amazing,’ Alanko said to the Oregonian.

‘It wasn’t until I saw his face, his tears, his outstretched arms, that my ability to feel and believe sprang forward!’ she added.

‘I could not have planned a better gift to give Justin than this,’ his adoptive mother Sue Maguire said on the moving reunion.

Kragt was overcome with emotion as he clutched onto his sister. He teared up as he said: ‘I always thought I was alone in the world, and I was content with that’

With her arms wrapped around him, Alanko said: ‘Now you’re stuck with me’.

‘I have a lot of holes that need to be filled in my heart and this does, it patches it up,’ Kragt said.

Now the two are catching up on lost time.

‘Now that we have each other, it’s crazy… everything is the same, but it isn’t! The fantastic thing is that we are pretty much the same age, we both get each others’ experiences because we went through the same life. To have someone who can really understand your trauma is an unbelievable gift. We don’t even have to say words, we can look at each other and know how to give the needed comfort,’ Alanko said to DailyMail.com.

Kragt is planning to visit Alanko in California in December.

‘I’m throwing a huge Christmas party and Justin is the star and guest of honor! I want all of my friends to meet him and get to know him. I want him to know that he belongs, that he can lay down roots. Finally!’ she said.”
Heartwarming moment siblings abandoned in South Korea and adopted to separate families in the U.S. are reunited after 34 YEARS thanks to DNA test

[Daily Mail 9/22/18 by Marlene Lenthang]

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