A group of ethnic Koreans, who were adopted overseas, visit Seoul meeting with their relatives and families.

A total of 1,630 South Korean babies were adopted by US families in the year 2005, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Feb. 25, 2005.

Yonhap said that the number of South Korean adoptees is the fourth largest, according to the US State Department statistics.

From October 2004 to September 2005 the US received 22,739 babies from overseas. Among them were 7,906 were from China, 4,639 were from Russia, and 3,783 were from Guatemala.

The statistics showed that the United States received 1,716 South Korean orphans in 2004, 1,790 in 2003, and 1,779 in 2002, respectively.

In 2005 alone South Korea produced a total of 29,926 orphans. Of them 2,258 were adopted overseas.