Romney: Obama's 'incompetence' emboldened North Korea

Mitt Romney condemned North Korea’s failed rocket launch, saying it violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, and said that "incompetence from the Obama administration has emboldened the North Korean regime and undermined the security of the United States and our allies" in a statement late Thursday.

“Its weapons program poses a clear and growing threat to the United States, one for which President Obama has no effective response,” the statement said. “Instead of approaching Pyongyang from a position of strength, President Obama sought to appease the regime with a food-aid deal that proved to be as naïve as it was short-lived.”

In March, North Korea agreed to a moratorium on its missile testing, a halt to uranium enrichment, and resumption of the international monitoring of its nuclear sites in return for 240,000 tons of food aid from the U.S. North Korea launched a rocket on Thursday, despite warnings from the U.S. and other countries. Though the launch apparently failed, sending the rocket into the sea, it raised major questions about the future of the agreement.