Photojournalist Kim Hong-Ji explores South Korea's 'baby boxes'

The 'baby box' at Joosarang church in Seoul, South Korea. Pastor Lee Jong-rak, who runs the box, has seen a sharp increase in the number of newborns being left because of a new law aimed at protecting the rights of children. South Korea is trying to shed a reputation of being a source of babies for adoption by people abroad. It is encouraging domestic adoption and tightening up the process of a child's transfer from birth mother to adoptive parents Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Lee Jong-rak holds an abandoned baby as he prays at Joosarang church in Seoul Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

A baby left in the 'baby box' waits for a medical examination at a children's hospital in Seoul Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Two disabled children, who were left at the 'baby box' and raised at Joosarang church, playing Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

A police officer collects DNA samples from two young babies Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Pastor Lee Jong-rak adjusts the blanket around a two-week-old boy in a 'baby box' Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Ward officials, who did not want to be identified, hold 'baby box' babies as they go to a child advocacy centre, after the babies had undergone checkups at a children's hospital in Seoul Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Choi Seol, 19, at the Joosarang church. Choi, a disabled person, was left at the church and has been raised there since Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Pastor Lee Jong-rak carries a baby, left earlier in the day, to hand it over to ward officials. Portraits of other children raised and adopted by him are seen on the wall Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

A police officer, right, talks on a phone as preacher Jeong Young-ran listens, after a woman leaves a child at the box Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

A ward official takes care of a child before a medical examination at a children's hospital Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Another child plays at Joosarang church in Seoul Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Lee Jong-rak plays with Lee On-u, aged six, a disabled child who was abandoned at the church Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters