Palin silent on North Korea 'ally' gaffe

• Tweet

NEW YORK, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Sarah Palin has yet to address the controversy arising from her televised statement about standing "with our North Korean allies," observers say.

Asked on the Glenn Beck Show Wednesday how she would handle the developing crisis in North Korea, Palin responded, "This is stemming from, I think, 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."

It was unclear whether Palin was referring to sanctions against North Korea, or U.S. sanctioning -- approving or supporting -- its actions, ABC News reported.

"Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies," Palin added.

Beck interrupted and corrected her, saying "South Korea."

"And we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes," she responded.

Critics were quick to jump on her words as evidence of Palin's lack of foreign policy expertise.

Defenders chose to concentrate on to her response immediately before the gaffe in which she discussed sanctions.

In an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in late October, two-thirds of Americans said they regarded Palin as unqualified to serve as president.