An adopted woman was reunited with her birth mother in Korea after spending almost 38 years apart – and discovered they were both looking for each other at the same time.

Caroline Hwa, 39, was adopted by her Norwegian parents when she was two years old in 1988 and was raised there along with a brother, who was also adopted.



In November 2024 Caroline started looking for her birth family and contacted the agency her family worked with when adopting her.



Caroline was put in touch with her mother in May 2025 and messaged her every day on Korean messaging app KakaoTalk before flying to Incheon, Korea, to meet her on September 14 2025.



She met her biological sister and brother and their families too, and plans to return to Korea with her husband Christian, 42, and three children Chrisander, 10, Caspian, seven and Cedric, two, to introduce them.



Caroline, a hairdresser, from Bergen, Norway, said: "In November 2024 I decided to start the process."



"I was suddenly thinking I have to do it now, now is the time."



"They started to review everything and were then able to tell me they had received emails from a girl that was reaching out on behalf of her mum."



"So that was my sister reaching out for my mum - she had contacted them on email."



"I was in put in contact the same month in May and went to Korea in September a couple of months later."



"Meeting my birth mother was overwhelming in the most beautiful way."



"It was so healing."



"I think I just cried from beginning to end."



"We didn't understand each other because of the language barrier but I still have a connection."



"It's so hard to describe."



"The whole thing has been like a dream"."



Caroline was contacted by the Norwegian adoption agency in May 2025.



She had put off filling in the consent forms needed to track down her mum the previous year, due to feeling "scared to see the answers"."



She filled them in and discovered they had found her birth mother.

Flying from Norway on September 14 2025 for a week, Caroline stayed at her birth mother's home in Suwon, Korea, for the first three nights but chose to stay at a hotel for the remainder of her trip as it was "just too much emotions"."



"I checked into a hotel that was nearby [..] and it took me 20 minutes to walk everyday because I needed that space."



"I met my brother Gyu-min, 34, and his wife Hayong. "

"They just had a baby, and my sister Cho-a, 36, lived in Seoul – she came later on in the trip."



"Everyday was exciting because I didn't know what the plans were."



"We were moving around, shopping and we would eat out a lot."



"I think it was also helpful for me because Hayong was speaking English so I could communicate and it helped a lot as she could always tell me where we were going."



"It was still a bit of a struggle and harder with the language as my mum doesn't speak English"."



Caroline learned the reasons behind her adoption aged two as Hayong translated for her, with her birth name being Sun Hwa.



"My birth father, he got pneumonia."



"He got seriously ill and my mum was alone taking care of me."



"She didn't have a job so she was moving into her sisters home and we would stay there but it got worse and worse."



"It got to point where she was breastfeeding me and she ran out of milk and didn't have enough food to feed me."



"If she kept me I would have suffered a lot."



"That's when she decided to put me for up for adoption."



"Recently she told me when she went to give me up for adoption they never said they would send her kid away to another country."



"So she told me that was one of biggest shocks afterwards when she found out"."



Caroline's mother remarried around two and a half years later and had her siblings, with her second husband dying in a car crash.



"I feel very relieved because I've always wanted to know but I was always scared for what was coming. "

"Now I know what was coming and have all answers from my mum I feel very, very relieved. "

"I think I've been through the whole cycle of emotions."



"Of course at one time I was questioning ‘why me?' "

"When I saw my sister, brother and mum I was thinking I could have been part of the family living in Korea"



"But then again after the answers from my mum I realised and do understand things were very bad when she decided to adopt me. "

"I feel very relieved and complete as a person."



"I think the next move will be to have my family my husband and three kids go to Korea so everyone can meet."



"My children are very excited about the whole thing and have met my mum on videos and seen pictures"."