DPRK official daily taunts U.S. political system over gov't shutdowns

PYONGYANG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The official media of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday taunted the U.S. political system, which has been experiencing frequent government shutdowns.

The shutdown of the U.S. government, the second in three weeks last month, was a "laughing stock worldwide" and "showed the plight of the U.S. on the decline," said Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

"The government shutdown is a product of political confrontation spawned by the reactionary bipartisan ruling system in the U.S. and an inevitable result of the serious crisis of the U.S. economy which has plunged into an irretrievable structural contradiction due to its war policy of aggression," the daily said in an article.

Although there were also shutdowns under the Clinton and Obama administrations, they have become commonplace under the Trump administration.

The paper said U.S. President Donald Trump could not have his budget bill passed in a Republican-controlled Senate because he is "being forsaken by even Republican lawmakers."

"The political camp of the U.S. is suffering from serious dissension and division. Festering division deepens confrontation and conflict in social relations," it said.

Trump signed a wide-ranging bipartisan deal into law on Feb. 9, ending a brief government shutdown that began just after midnight of Feb. 8, the second time in three weeks because the Senate missed the deadline for passing a short-term funding bill.

The deal Trump signed included a bill that will fund the government through March 23, marking the fifth temporary government funding measure for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2017. Enditem