Kim & Chang, one of South Korea’s major law firms, said Monday it has decided to provide free legal services to Korean adoptees overseas who wish to return home and settle here to help guarantee their rights.

The firm signed a memorandum of understanding Monday with the Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link (GOAL), a non-profit organization for overseas adoptees with some 2,000 members, promising to help the adoptees with their diverse legal activities.

“We will focus on how to protect Korean adoptees’ rights who want to return to their home country. We will support their lawsuits or other legal activities in case they face such challenges as nationality and labor status issues,” the law firm said in a statement.

The firm also vowed to make regular donations to GOAL, it added.

According to government data, more than 160,000 Korean babies and children have been adopted by over 14 countries around the world, including the U.S., Canada and France since 1956.

International adoption still continues in Korea.

Previously, Korean citizenship was taken away automatically from babies sent overseas, but a new law that went into effect in 2011 stipulates Korean adoptees are entitled to restore their citizenship. (Yonhap News)