In 1974, South Korea tried to stop adoptions to Scandinavia, after its political rival, North Korea, charged that children were “being sold like animals in the foreign land.” South Korean government records from the time show that diplomats from Sweden, Denmark and Norway began begging for babies.

South Korea’s adoption program started with the unwanted children of Korean women and Western soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean war, and then included the children of single mothers, the poor and others.

For adoptees who have looked into their roots, the inaccurate information has led to mistaken reunions, swapped identities and forgotten family histories, according to an Associated Press investigation.