    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 17 (Monday, May 1, 2006)]
    [Pages 810-811]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following a Meeting With North Korean Defectors and Family
    Members of Japanese Abducted by North Korea

    April 28, 2006

        I have just had one of the most moving meetings since I've been the
    President, here in the Oval Office. I met with a mom and a brother who
    long to be reunited with her daughter and his sister. They're apart
    because the North Korean Government abducted the child when she was a
    teenager. And all the mom wants is to be reunited with her daughter.
        It is hard to believe that a country would foster abduction. It's
    hard for Americans to imagine that a leader of any country would
    encourage the abduction of a young child. It's a heartless country that
    would separate loved ones, and yet that's exactly what happened to this
    mom as a result of the actions of North Korea. If North Korea expects to
    be respected in the world, that country must respect human rights and
    human dignity and must allow this mother to hug her child again.
        I talked to a family, a young North Korean family that escaped the
    clutches of tyranny in order to live in freedom. This young couple was
    about to have a child, and the mom was 5 months pregnant when they
    crossed the river to get into China. They wandered in China, wondering
    whether or not their child could grow up and have a decent life. They
    were deeply concerned about the future of their child; any mother and
    father would be concerned about their child.
        They had to wander because they did not want to have their child
    grow up in a society that was brutal, a society that did not respect the
    human condition. By the grace of God, they found safe haven. Their child
    was born and now safely sits here in the Oval Office.
        I talked to a courageous man who escaped from North Korea. He was in
    the North Korean military. He saw firsthand the brutal nature of the
    regime, and he couldn't--his heart could no longer take it. He followed
    his conscience and escaped. He speaks for thousands who have escaped
    North Korea and thousands who live inside the country; he speaks
    eloquently about the need for their freedom and for them to be treated
    decently.
        The world requires courage to confront people who do not respect
    human rights, and it has been my honor to welcome into the Oval Office
    people of enormous courage: a mom; a mother and dad of a young child; a
    former soldier; a brother. And so I welcome you here. We're proud you're
    here. I assure you that the United States of America strongly respects
    human rights. We strongly will work for freedom so that the people of
    North Korea can raise their children in a world that's free and hopeful
    and so that moms will never again have to worry about an abducted
    daughter.
        May God bless you all. Thanks for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:39 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Sakie Yokata, mother, and Takuya
    Yokata, brother, of Megumi Yokata, a Japanese woman abducted by North
    Korean authorities;

    [[Page 811]]

    and Kim Guang Choel and Lee Seong Hee, who defected from North Korea,
    and their daughter, Kim Han-Mee.