The Brothers' Home (Korean: 형제복지원; RR: Hyungje Bokjiwon) was an internment camp (officially a welfare facility) located in Busan, South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s .
[5]: 175 As the 1960s unfolded, Park Chung Hee's military junta commenced efforts to 'cleanse' society of those who were seen as "symbols of the 'poverty' and 'disorder' of cities",[1] and these policies were expanded to cover the detention of general vagrants.
Likewise, the city of Busan and its local police arrested and detained numerous people who were seen on the streets, including panhandlers, abandoned or orphaned children, and the disabled as vagrants.
[5]: 188 [b] In the case where police "protection" was to take place, officers were required to "inform family members or other close associates of the aid recipient without delay".
[12]: 9 This crackdown on vagrancy was intensified as rebranding efforts were taken place by the South Korean government in preparation for the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
[11] On April 10, 1981, upon receiving a report from Military Security Command on the status of panhandling among disabled citizens,[12]: 5 then-President Chun Doo-Hwan ordered Prime Minister Nam Duck-woo to "crack down on begging and take protective measures for vagrants.
The case was handled by the Busan Bukbu Police Station [ko], which arranged a meeting between Kang and Park In-geun, who had been the director of the center since 1977.
[14] Kim discovered that the workshop, which was located on a mountain in Ulju County, Ulsan, was operating under orders from Park In-guen, director of Brothers Home.
[14] Kim reckoned that Park was subjecting inmates brought from Brothers to forced labor, and launched a full-scale search and seizure investigation into the workshop and the center's main facility in Busan, on January 16, 1987.
[19] Subsequent investigations into the incident revealed that the inmates at Brothers Home were subjected to serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary detention, enforced labor, torture,[20] and sexual violence.
[12]: 29 The 1987 New Korean Democratic Party investigation reports estimated that, based on records from the center,[23] a total of 513 people died inside Brothers from July 5, 1975 to January 7, 1987.
[23] The 2022 Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation reported that, based on a comprehensive analysis, including all newly discovered death records from 1975 to 1988, a total of 657 people had died in the center.
[26] Across Australia, Europe and the United States, the majority-female Korean adoptees asked for an investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the child trafficking scandal.
[29] On June 23, 1987,[30] the Ulsan District Court [ko] initially ruled Park guilty on all charges and sentenced him to ten years in imprisonment and a 681 million won fine.
[29] On November 27, 1987,[30] however, the Daegu High Court [ko] dropped Park's charges of daytime imprisonment after an appeal was made, and the sentence was lowered to four years.
[30] The prosecution, which originally sought a fifteen-year sentence and a fine amassing around 600 million won, was put under pressure by the Chun Doo-hwan administration.
One former inmate reported being forced to perform in Christian plays for local and international guests and given Easter eggs as rewards.
Another survivor described the church and the camp as a business operation run by Pastor Lim Young-soon and Director Park In-geun, with children forced to work and run an on-premises Korean adoption operation,[24] including writing letters soliciting donations from families who have adopted children in the past.