Separated Siblings Share an Emotional Reunion After 34 Years

As a young child, Justin Kragt was abandoned by his parents. Renee Alanko was as well. Although they grew up in separate homes, in adulthood, that separation would come to an end.

The story of this tearful reunion begins way back in March of 1984 in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. At the time, a young boy barely two years old was found wandering near a theater. No one else was nearby – not an older brother, sister, mother, or father.

Just as the police were trying to figure out what to do with the abandoned boy, a woman walked into the police station with a girl who had also been abandoned. Where the woman found her was only a mile or so away from the theater where the boy was found.

The woman who found the girl stayed around the police station as well to answer some basic questions. She said she found the young girl at a local market wandering around alone. She tried to help the girl find her parents but to no avail. 

The police found out that the two-year-old boy’s name was Hong Ki Hong. Without a family, he stayed for a while in an orphanage in South Korea. Soon, however, it was decided that Hong should be put up for adoption.

Sue Maguire, who became Justin’s adoptive mother, described the experience of his adoption to ABC News. She said that she “actually found Justin in a magazine,” and that she immediately fell in love with his “cute little cherub of a face.” 

Shortly after being found wandering alone near a market, the abandoned four-year-old girl was handed over to police who placed her in an orphanage. The girl’s name was Jee Young Lee, and she was only put up for adoption. 

Considering that Jee Young Lee and Hong Khi Hong were quite young when they were adopted, neither of them remembered much about their pre-adoption life while growing up. Instead, it remained a complete mystery well into their adulthoods.

When Justin was very young, only four years old, he ran into a serious health issue. It turns out he was born with congenital heart failure and now needed open-heart surgery to avoid the worst. Luckily, the surgery went well.

In September 2018, Justin Kragt sat down with reporters from The Oregonian newspaper to describe the events of his remarkable life. He said that he was, “content with what I thought was my story.” 

Unlike Justin, who knew very little about his birth mother or the conditions of his adoption, Renee — formerly Jee Young Lee — knew quite a bit about hers. That’s because she was a bit older and could talk with the police when she was first found.

When Renee’s adoptive mother sat down with reporters from The Oregonian, she added some interesting details to her daughter’s account. In particular, she said that Renee used to always speak about having a baby brother.

Not being content with the scant details of his family’s past, Justin Kragt decided that he needed to try something else. So, in 2014, he decided to get a DNA test from the personal genomics company 23andMe. He wanted to know if he could find any blood relatives.

Not too long thereafter, Renee got her results back and Justin got a surprising update. In short, a match was found. Renee found that she had a brother (namely Justin), and Justin found that he had a sister (namely Renee).

Since Justin’s birthday was coming up, they decided to make it extra special by planning their reunion for that day. So, in September 2018, Justin drove down to Portland International Airport (PDX) and Renee boarded a flight bound for PDX.

As you can imagine, the airport reunion was incredibly touching and emotional. Both of them had tears flowing from their eyes. Justin said, “I always thought I was alone in the world.” Tears began to flow and he wiped some of them aside. “I was content with that,” he continued. 

Not too far behind Justin was his adoptive mom Sue Maguire. As a deeply empathetic person, she was also profoundly moved by the incredible (and incredibly emotional) first-time meeting between brother and sister. 

In the same smartphone footage from the day, Renee said that she “knew about him all this time” but never thought she would actually get a chance to meet him. “This is really amazing,” she said. 

Although the reunion answered some fundamental questions that bugged them for their entire lives, it didn’t answer everything. Sure, Justin and Renee knew they were brother and sister, but they still didn’t know much about their father or mother. 

Later on, a crew from ABC News did a piece on the sibling’s journey toward finding each other. Although there are still mysteries that remain, Renee feels much better. Her brother Justin is only a phone call, text, or short flight away. Knowing that has “really changed the way that I see myself in the world,” Renee said.