South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo says North Korea has stepped back from a strident demand it made earlier this year.

VOA: standard.2009.09.11

"I think,in very general terms, in the last year or two, that the strident public criticism and denunciation rom the outside has also been a factor and has in my view has been something of a mistake,"

VOA: standard.2009.11.17

It should not take a strident Mayor to rival a high-profile teacher strike in order to replace non-performing teachers.

FORBES: Why Rahm Was Right To Fight For Kids

All of a sudden, however, he springs on her a challenge with the strident voice of a man of huge contradictions, courteous in one instant, cruel in the next.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

The tableau of Britain at the opening ceremony included suffragettes, hundreds of dancing nurses, a strident Mary Poppins banishing multiple villains and even a shot of the first lesbian kiss aired on prime-time television.

ECONOMIST: At the women��s Olympics, a lot of fuss over clothes