Former U.S. President George W. Bush hosted a forum on North Korean human rights in Texas on Thursday (local time), his institute said.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center said he met with leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss ways to address the North Korean human rights problem.

"Five North Korean refugees also shared their stories of escape and their experiences building new lives in the United States as a result of the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act, which President Bush signed into law 10 years ago," it said in an emailed news release.

The session was part of the Bush Institute's effort to enhance global awareness of the suffering of North Koreans and seek what the U.S. and other nations can do to help them more, according to the institute.

Both in office and after retirement, Bush has paid keen attention to human rights abuse prevalent in the communist nation.

Last year, he invited Shin Dong-hyuk, a North Korean defector who authored a book on the country's political prisoner camp, to his institute in Dallas, Texas.

In 2005, he also met with another defector, Kang Cheol-hwan, co-author of a book on the North's human rights abuse, at the White House. (Yonhap)