Two Korean sisters who were adopted separately to the U.S. and Belgium as infants will meet for the first time in 39 years.
Darragh Hannan was adopted by an American family in Minnesota when she was just eight weeks old. She grew up in Indiana and now lives in Pennsylvania. Her adoptive parents, who had long wanted a child, adopted her only to find out shortly after that they were expecting another baby. Darragh grew up a sister close in age, describing their bond as “more or less twins.”
Hannan’s older sister, Jee Won Ha, was born 14 months earlier and was initially adopted by a family in South Korea. After living with them until she was two years old, her adoptive parents divorced, and she was adopted again—this time by a family in Belgium, where she was raised with nine other adopted children.
Their reunion became possible thanks to MyHeritage(myheritage.com/dna), a DNA-based service that helps reunite families scattered across the globe. Both Hannan and Ha had seen documentaries about people finding their families through DNA testing and submitted their samples in the late 2010s. Recently, the two were able to confirm each other’s existence.
Hannan recalled being stunned when she received an email from her sister Ha, which read: “Hey, I think We’re sisters.” She explained, “I had kind of forgotten I signed up for this service because it was like six years ago.”
At the time she submitted her DNA in 2018, the database for people of Asian descent seemed relatively small, which may have contributed to the delay, she explained.
Beneath the surface, Jee Won’s story held deeper pain. A major part of her journey involved grappling with the depression she faced as a result of her adoption. “I did not grow up in a loving family,” Ha revealed. “I had a difficult childhood, and I suffered abuse from my adoptive family.”
According to Hannan’s adoption records, their birth mother was 21 years old when she dropped out of school and decided to give up her first-born child for adoption. However, it was later revealed that Ha, the older sister, had actually been born first.
Ha expressed her confusion: “Why did she deny my birth? I don’t understand it. I want to find her today to ask her these questions, to know if she loved us at all and why she abandoned us”
Despite her past, Ha showed excitement of navigating newfound relationship with her sister. “The bond between us is special, it’s a reminder of a shared life that we missed, of the lost time, but also hope for a better future.”
Despite these complex emotions, the connection between the sisters has been profound. “I am happy that I found Darragh—I feel physically connected to her, she completes me,” Ha said. “It’s the balance between black and white—I’m glad I found her, but sometimes I want to cry because it overwhelms the dark side of my life.”
The sisters are set to meet in Seoul, South Korea, on October 25. They expressed their desire to piece together the fragmented puzzle of their past and to search for their birth parents in Korea.
Ha added, “The bond between us is special, it’s a reminder of a shared life that we missed, of the lost time, but also hope for a better future”
Hannan works as a project manager for a company that builds museum exhibits. Ha runs a knitting and sewing shop in Belgium.
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
