Secrets and lies as South Korea's adoptees search for belonging
Singapore: There is a word in Korean, sosokgam or 소속감, which means 'a sense of belonging'.
For Carissa Smith, who was adopted from South Korea in 1985 and grew up on the NSW North Coast, it's something that has always been elusive. Instead, she has lived with a life-long feeling of dislocation and anguish.
'I always struggled with 'fitting in', like I have a hole inside of me,' she says.
'On my birthday, I would look at the moon and wonder whether my birth mother was looking at the same moon from Korea. I wondered if she missed me, I wondered if she loved me.'
Last year, she travelled to Seoul, hoping to find clues about her birth family that would paint a fuller picture of her identity, and answer questions that her three young Australian-Korean children might have one day.
It's a journey numerous Australian adoptees have made, which has taken them to the doors of the Eastern Social Welfare Society, the agency in Seoul that has facilitated the adoptions of some 3600 Korean children to Australia since 1978. It holds the files containing critical information about their past.
Smith says she was ushered into a room where a staff member sat across from her holding a manila folder of her records, using a ruler and her hands to obscure large sections of it.
'I begged her to show me those bits, because I just wanted to try and find my birth mother,' she says.
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"The end of the war brought heartache for many families when, after years of waiting for news of the missing, they were told that their loved ones were not coming home," Mr Melick said. Lifeline 13 11 14 Open Arms 1800 011 046 Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to war veterans as he joined thousands across the nation to commemorate 80 years since the end of the Second World War. The prime minister's address at the Sydney Cenotaph on Friday touched on the the words his wartime predecessor Ben Chifley had uttered to the nation on August 15, 1945: "fellow citizens, the war is over". "It was a sentence of perfect simplicity, but infinite power," Mr Albanese said. On the 80th Victory in the Pacific Day, when Japan accepted the terms of surrender to the Allied forces sparking the end of World War II, Mr Albanese paid tribute to all the stories of courage, resilience, exhaustion, fear and elation and the endless longing for the home so many never saw again. 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7NEWS
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Fallen heroes honoured as Australia marks 80 years since end of World War II
A country boy who flew a B-24 bomber over Borneo in July 1945 did not live long enough to witness the end of World War II. Warrant Officer Class 2 Frederick Balfe Emanuel died mere weeks before Victory in the Pacific Day on August 15, when Japan announced its unconditional surrender to the Allies. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Fallen heroes remembered 80 years after end of WWII. At age 22, Emanuel enlisted in the Australian army serving in Papua New Guinea before joining the Far Eastern Liaison Office, where he took part in dangerous reconnaissance missions. He is being honoured at the Australian War Memorial on Friday, as the nation marks the 80th anniversary of the bloody war that reached its shores coming to a fateful end. 'His story is a heartbreaking reminder of how close some came to seeing peace yet never returned home,' memorial director Matt Anderson said. 'This is honouring a country boy who became a Sydneysider yet did not survive to finish his story.' Other commemorations include a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon aircraft conducting a flypast over the National War Memorial in Adelaide. Australia played a significant role in the Pacific during World War II, fighting against Japan from 1941 to 1945. Initially, Australian forces engaged in campaigns in Malaya and Singapore. After the bombing of Darwin in February 1942, the focus shifted to defending the Australian mainland and supporting the US-led counteroffensive in the Pacific. RSL national president Greg Melick said the occasion was an important time for Australia to recognise the sacrifices of so many fallen soldiers. 'For Australians, that day meant that the Second World War was finally over,' he said. 'As the number of WWII veterans dwindle, it is vital that we commemorate their collective contribution to our liberty and way of life.' He said nearly one million Australians, about one in seven of the population at the time, served in uniform during the Second World War. Almost 40,000 died and 66,000 were wounded. Many thousands more became prisoners of war, with 8000 dying in captivity. 'The end of the war brought heartache for many families when, after years of waiting for news of the missing, they were told that their loved ones were not coming home,' Mr Melick said.
