[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.