South Korea officially joined an international treaty on adoption to provide protection for children, the health ministry said Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea became a member state of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, as Health Minister Jin Young signed the deal on Friday.

The convention establishes protection for children, birth parents and adoptive parents while endorsing the concept of international adoption as a means for homeless children to receive permanent families.

It also handles other youth-related issues such as child laundering and child trafficking. The convention went into effect in 1995 and it has been ratified by 90 countries, including the United States, Germany and China.

South Korea plans to reorganize its domestic system on adoption to meet the standards required by the convention.  (Yonhap News)