[TigerLikesRooster]

Bush met for about 40 minutes in the Oval Office on Monday with Kang Chol-Hwan, who spent time in a North Korean prison camp and wrote the book, "The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years In The North Korean Gulag."

"The president read the book, it is a compelling story. The president is very concerned about the human rights situation in North Korea," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The author is now a journalist in South Korea.

S. Korean President Roh Moo-hyun lobbied so hard for a meeting with Bush and got only 45 minutes. However, a humble N. Korean defector spent 40 minutes with Bush. Speaks a volume about Bush's view.

[Stonedog]

Speaks a volume about Bush's view.

So it's wrong to draw attention to the human rights abuses in NK? The SK president got 45 minutes, seems long enough to discuss anything that needs to be said directly from one president to another.

[ClaudiusI]

The S. Korean's are far more guilty of N. Korean bootlicking than we Americans ever were.

[John Valentine]

I thought Roh was getting even less than 45 minutes, more like 30 minutes. He must have run overtime. It must have been torture for GWB to have to listen to Roh's line of crap.

[ken5050]

What can you possibly expect from the same person who wants John Bolton at the UN? Diplomatic niceties?..(g)