Sarah Palin: 'We Gotta Stand With Our North Korean Allies'

Nov. 25, 2010— -- Was it a simple blunder or did a possible 2012 presidential contender really get her geography wrong?

That's the question being debated after Sarah Palin said in an interview with Glenn Beck Wednesday that North Korea was a U.S. ally.

When asked by Beck how she would handle a situation like the one that was developing 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 is unclear whether Palin is talking about sanctions against North Korea, or U.S. sanctioning -- i.e. approving or supporting -- its actions.

Palin continued: "Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies," when Beck interrupted and corrected her to say "South Korea."

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

Palin's gaffe immediately caught fire on the blogosphere. Liberals jumped to show her response as evidence of Palin's lack of foreign policy expertise. Conservatives came to her defense, pointing to her response immediately before the gaffe where she discusses sanctions.

Palin has yet to address the incident.

Listen to the exchange on YouTube.

This is not the first time that Palin, on a whirlwind book tour of her new book "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag," has taken heat for her words.

Last month, Palin endorsed West Virginia GOP candidate John Raese on Twitter but got his state wrong.

Other Palin gaffes, however, have changed the modern lexicon. The New Oxford American Dictionary made her term "refudiate" the official 2010 word of the year. Palin's use of the word -- seemingly a mix of refute and repudiate -- launched critics into a frenzy when she first posted it on her Twitter page over the summer.

The quasi leader of the Tea Party movement has emerged as a powerful force in the conservative movement, and she is making her presence known.

From appearing on Dancing with the Stars to cheer on her daughter, Bristol, to her multiple appearances on Fox News and 16-city book tour, Palin's actions have fueled much speculation about a possible presidential run in 2012.