Palin slips up with Korea gaffe

Estimates of Sarah Palin's foreign policy expertise fell to a new low after she slipped up while discussing the tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The woman considered a likely candidate for the presidency of the United States in 2012 told an interviewer on Glenn Beck's radio show: "We've got to stand with our North Korean allies".

Yesterday she was asked how she would handle a situation like the one in North Korea.

Palin replied: "Well, North Korea, this is stemming from a greater problem, when we're all sitting around asking,'Oh no, what are we going to do,' and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea is going to do. So this speaks to a bigger picture that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy. But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies - we're bound to by treaty ..."

The interviewer interjected: "South Korean."

Palin added: "Yes, and we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes."

It's not the first time Palin has tripped up on global politics. In the last presidential election the then Republican vice-presidential candidate suggested Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her an edge in understanding the Kremlin. Comedian Tina Fey subsequently lampooned her with the line: "I can see Russia from my house!"

She also appeared unaware of the "Bush doctrine" of preventive action.

Palin wasn't the only public figure to stumble over Pyongyang yesterday.

Venezuela's 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado closed her Twitter account after being mocked for confusing the Koreas with China.

Concerned by North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island, she got muddled when tweeting for world peace.

Her gaffe unleashed a rush of insulting posts, prompting her to go offline.

- Agencies