Sarah Palin visits South Korea, takes aim at elites

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin took aim Tuesday at the political elite in the United States, Europe and China, as she brought her criticisms of big government and "crony capitalism" to South Korea.

Days after announcing she would not run for president in 2012, Palin said there "will be a woman president of the United States of America, and I look forward to that day", but did not elaborate on why she did not enter the race.

The 2008 vice-presidential candidate told supporters last week she could help the Republican cause more by working to elect others.

In a wide-ranging speech to a forum in Seoul, the conservative commentator accused China of seeking to use its military influence in regional disputes and said she looked forward to the ousting of North Korea's regime.

Palin cited the Arab Spring as proof that new information technology was playing an "enormous role" in spreading cries for freedom.

"Technology means individuals have been empowered in ways they have never been empowered before in our entire history," she told the World Knowledge Forum hosted by Maeil Business Newspaper.

"Technology has taken power away from ! central authorities and provided individuals with more choices. We are no longer living in a top-down world. Now we are living in a bottom-up world, from entertainment and information to education."

But governments seemed to be going in the opposite direction, with the European Union in Brussels "dictating terms for the member states across the continent", she said.

In China, "where there have been some movements towards reform, the Communist Party still dictates to the Chinese what they can and what they can't do in so many respects", she added.

Even in the United States, the political elite "believe we just can't get along without them", Palin charged.

"Government officials like to push this idea because it gives them the opportunity to pick the economic winners and losers in our system... in other words, it gives them ultimate economic power.

"I just call it crony capitalism."

Palin said China has a reputation for wanting to exercise its military influence to sway territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

In North Korea, the first victims of the regime are the country's people, she said.

"That is so inherently unfair and unjust that I look forward to this entire region being able to rebuild, South Korea being able to assist North Korea when that regime is finally ousted."