Earlier this year, President Barack Obama's administration said neither that engagement nor U.S.sanctions had brought about democratic change and that Washington would move to pursue high-level meetings.

VOA: standard.2009.11.02

And we need to continue to promote democracy and human rights beyond freedom's current frontiers, so that citizens everywhere are afforded the opportunity to pursue their dreams and live up to their own God-given potential,".

VOA: standard.2009.11.09

"We have made it very clear that the North Koreans pursue this pathway at a cost, and with consequences to the six-party talks, which we would like to see revived and moving forward as quickly as possible,"

VOA: standard.2009.03.25

The decision to pursue talks , the treaty," replacing the START-1 treaty was reached during a London meeting earlier this month (April 3) between President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev - the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.

VOA: standard.2009.04.08