"Why are South Koreans not enraged about human rights abuses in North Korea?" Bush asked, according to Kang, author of "The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years In the North Korean Gulag."

The June 13 meeting was not on the president's schedule but was confirmed later by the White House.

Kang, 37, who was born in Pyongyang, was imprisoned in Yodok concentration camp in the communist nation when he was only nine years old and spent 10 years there. He escaped to South Korea in 1992 and is now working for the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

"President Bush told me that he was deeply moved by my book and said he invited me to hear frank testimony about North Korea," Kang wrote after a 40-minute meeting last week. "The president said he recommended my book to Americans to learn what North Korea is really like."

Bush was quoted as saying that the North Korean human rights situation was grave and vowed to show more interest in resolving the issue. Bush said he was particularly heartbroken by reports of pregnant women and children starving, Kang said.

Bush also said he would not link humanitarian aid with political issues in dealing with North Korea, and would continue to provide food aid despite the dispute over the North's nuclear weapons program, according to Kang.

"President Bush was more interested in the pains North Koreans are suffering, more so than I had previously thought. He repeated how deeply sorry he was about the situation in North Korea," Kang said.

Asked by Bush about a role of the U.S. president over the North's situation, Kang said he recommended trying to rescue North Korean refugee-seekers stranded in China and North Koreans detained in concentration camps, rather then focusing efforts on the North's nuclear weapons programs.

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