In gaffe, Palin supports 'our North Korean allies'

"Obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies," she said on the radio show of fellow conservative icon Glenn Beck.

The host immediately corrected her and Palin repeated: "Yeah. And we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes."

Although it was clear Palin had an unfortunate slip of the tongue, it is the type of error the former Republican vice-presidential candidate must scrupulously avoid to dispel doubts about her credibility in a potential run for the White House in 2012.

Palin, who left midway through her first term in office as governor of Alaska, was battered by the "lamestream media" for her awkward speech and apparent lack of knowledge on key foreign and national matters when she was John McCain's running mate for his failed 2008 presidential bid.

Her appearance on The Glenn Beck Program came amid a busy schedule for Palin, now promoting a new book ripping President Barack Obama on health care reform and foreign policy.

A TLC television reality show featuring her family fishing, kayaking, bear-watching and relaxing in their tiny hometown of Wasilla recently launched and she made a show of support for her daughter Bristol, who finished third in the finals of hit ABC show "Dancing with the Stars."

The remainder of Palin's remarks on Tuesday's deadly artillery attack that marked the worst violence between North and South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War stuck to traditional US policy talking points.

"This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we're all sitting around asking 'Oh no, what are we gonna do,' and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea's gonna do," she said.

"So this speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policies."

She also said the United States should "remind North Korea, well, we're not going to reward bad behavior and we're not going to walk away and we do need to press China to do more to increase pressure on that arena."

Palin's prominence grew as the ultra-conservative Tea Party gained momentum this year and her reputation as a political kingmaker has solidified, with several candidates she endorsed romping to victory in the November 2 elections.

But the polarizing populist is no favorite of the Republican establishment, which regards her as bad nationwide match-up against Obama in 2012 and has looked on with dismay as she has become an increasingly powerful player.

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