U.S. President George W. Bush, meeting with the mother of abductee Megumi Yokota at the White House, promised Friday to press North Korea to return abductees and respect human rights.
Bush also met with North Korean defectors.
"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," Bush told reporters, speaking along with the participants in the Oval Office after the meeting.
Bush met with Sakie Yokota, 70, and her son, Takuya, 37, along with four North Korean defectors -- former military officer Kim Sung Min and a family with a 6-year-old daughter. The family defected to South Korea via the Japanese consulate in Shenyang, China, in May 2002.