North Korea criticized the deployment of U.S. F-35 fighter jets for joint exercises with South Korea after Seoul's president visited the White House and pledged to raise the country's defense spending.

The U.S. and South Korea are in the middle of military drills that Pyongyang has condemned as provocative and threatening the fragile peace on the peninsula.

Why It Matters

North Korea has officially shed the long-held goal of reunification with the south, while forging ahead with an intensive military buildup and its weapons development programs.

Western officials and experts believe Russia offered a helping hand in its military programs, and Pyongyang is sharply critical of U.S. ties to South Korea and Japan—countries looking on with deep anxiety at the North's burgeoning nuclear arsen

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