- Justin Kragt and Renee Alanko were two and four years old respectively when they were abandoned at different locations in Seoul, South Korea in 1984.
- Officials did not realize they were related, and they siblings were adopted by different American families, growing up less than 600 miles apart from each other.
- Earlier this summer, Alanko took a 23andMe DNA test and discovered that Kragt was her brother.
- Last week, the two met face-to-face for the first time when Alanko flew to Oregon.
A brother and sister who were abandoned by their father in South Korea 34 years ago met face-to-face for the first time last week after being brought together by a 23andMe DNA test.
Earlier this summer, 38-year-old Renee Alanko bought a DNA kit because she was looking to start a family and wanted to know what kind of genetic health issues she might carry, The Oregonian reported.
Instead, she got a major surprise: she had a sibling living just one state north.
Justin Kragt, 36, was two years old when he was left outside of a theater in Seoul in 1984. Less than 24 hours later, his older sister, then four, was left alone at a market, after her father gave her money to go buy a treat. The woman who found her discovered a note in her pocket, telling her the girl was an orphan and to take her to the police station.
Since they were abandoned at different locations, South Korean officials didn't realize the two were siblings and they were put up for adoption separately.
But their lives in America were never that far apart. Kragt spent most of his life in Salem, Oregon, while his older sister was taken in by a family less than 600 miles away, in the Northern California town of Pleasanton.
Kragt has no memory of having a sister, and Alanko's adoption documents note no sibling other than a possible older sister. But her adoptive mother said that she spoke about her "cute" baby brother when she first arrived in the US.
"I knew about him all this time," Alanko told ABC News. "I just never thought I'd ever meet him...this is really amazing."
Alanko previously tried to hunt down her birth family, hiring an adoption detective to help her search for her father on a trip back to her native country in 2008. But none of the 200 potential men she reached out to claimed her as their daughter. So she wasn't looking for her biological family when she took the DNA test. 
Kragt had other intentions when he bought his 23andMe kit in 2014. While he believed he was an only child, he hoped that the DNA test might lead him to some distant relatives, and his search proved successful.
After discovering the match, Alanko reached out to Kragt and they discovered that they had been abandoned close to each other, and just hours apart.
Last week, the two met face-to-face for the first time when Alanko flew to Portland, Oregon.
Cameras were rolling the moment she strode out of the terminal and into the arms of her brother, embracing him for the first time in more than three decades. One of the first things Alanko did was touch her brother's nose, pointing out the similarity to her own.
The reunion, which took place on Kragt's 36th birthday, was emotional. At several points in their interview at the airport, Kragt broke down crying. Though they are practically strangers, his sister brought him in for a hug, a familial instinct kicking in.
"I always thought I was alone in the world and I was content with that," Kragt said at the airport, his arm around his sister.
"Now you're stuck with me," Alanko replied, both breaking out into laughter.
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