“My mother pitied me, yet she did not allow me to come near her neighborhood.”
“I cried buckets over the miserable reality I was facing, in front of a doctor I’d never met before.”Young unwed mothers Ka Young Jo and Kye Eun Lee openly and bravely shared their stories with the audience at the Human Library of a session hosted by the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens at the JCI Asia-Pacific Conference 2019 on June 19th.




“What would you like your child to see in the future?” asked Froehler to the gathered audience, answering her own question that she would like to show her child a society that “does not stigmatize unwed mothers anymore” when she visits the country again.


“It is delightful that the Centre has selected the topic of the issues of unwed mothers. The Ban Ki-moon Centre’s engagement with JCI, Intree and SYLC makes a huge impact,” said Lee.The first section entitled ‘Human Library’ was moderated by MC Myoung Ryoon Kim, a women’s right activist, who facilitated heartfelt conversation with two young unwed mothers. For the second section, representatives from academic, private and public sectors gave presentations on the best-practice examples of supports for unwed mothers and discussed areas to improve in the Korean government’s policies towards them:
- Heekyung Jo Min, Executive Vice President & Head of CSR, CJ CheilJedang
- Hyeyoung Kim, CEO of Korean Institute for Healthy Family (KIHF)
- In Gyun Baek, Executive Director of Business Administration Division, KDB Bank
- Jung Hyeun Sung, Professor of Social Welfare, Hyupsung University
- Lisa Kuzunishi, Special Researcher, Rikkyo University
- Simone Eun Mi, Adoption Human Right’s Activist






“[Some] society sees the unwed mothers as problems. For me, I see them as solutions,” said




- “Bad Name” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3uaBBWRums
- “I am a Girl” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-92Odet84p4