Few countries today can claim as staggering a list of human rights violations as North Korea [and] as the situation grows ever more desperate for those fleeing the world's most repressive regime, urgent attention is needed.

In light of this, it is fair to say that international institutions have totally failed in their duty to protect refugees and curtail human rights violations.

After a meeting [with North Korean defectors and the families of abductees] in April 2006, [President George W. Bush] assured the visitors that he would work "so that the people of North Korea can raise their children in a world that's free and hopeful."

Yet the direct responsibility for dealing with North Korean human rights has been relegated to a quiet and often censored special envoy, Jay Lefkowitz.

Today, the Bush administration remains resoundingly silent on the "non-negotiable demands of human dignity." North Koreans and their oppressors can only regard the United States' assurances to push for North Korean human rights as empty promises.

This week, newly elected President Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea will meet with Bush at Camp David. He will be the first Korean president to visit the famed retreat center.

Bush and Lee must work to facilitate protection of North Korean refugees by smoothing over difficulties in exit visas for refugees stuck in third countries, and the expansion of resettlement programs and facilities in South Korea.

On a larger scale, they can provide leadership by organizing a refugee burden-sharing structure for the region, and by pressing the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to operate camps for North Korean refugees.

The two leaders can also effect change within North Korea. They can demand that all humanitarian aid meet international transparency standards to ensure that the aid is not diverted from the most vulnerable populations.

And they can link energy aid, infrastructure development, and other key incentives to benchmarked improvements of human rights.

For the sake of the 24 million North Koreans without a seat at the six-party talks, let's hope they do.

Joseph Hong is the research and policy officer of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), a non-governmental organization devoted to human rights in North Korea and the protection of North Korean refugees.