South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s book contains ‘mistake’ about meeting with Kim Jong Un, her office says

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem described in a new book meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during her time in Congress. But her office said Friday that the meeting story was a mistake as she came under increased scrutiny over the Republican governor’s life story.

Noem was already facing backlash over a description of how she shot a hunting dog.. The book was part of an open bid to be chosen as the running mate of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. But his political prospects have fallen amid bipartisan displeasure over how he recounted killing his 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket after it displayed aggressive behavior and killed his neighbor’s chickens.

In his soon-to-be-published book, “There’s No Going Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong in Politics and How We Move America Forward.” Noem describes cases in which she has confronted international leaders (anecdotes that would have reinforced her foreign policy experience), but which were questioned. He writes about his meeting with Kim Jong Un while working in Congress and, more recently, canceling a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

After The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s descriptions of the meetings, his spokesman Ian Fury said in a statement: “We have been informed that the upcoming book ‘No Going Back’ has two small errors. This has been communicated to the writer. ghost and editor.”

Fury said Kim was mistakenly included in a list of world leaders Noem has met, and also mixed up the dates he spoke with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.

“The book has not yet been published and all future editions will be corrected,” Fury added.

In the book, Noem wrote: “During my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the opportunity to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders, some who wanted our help and some who did not. I remember when” “When I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, I’m sure he underestimated me, having no idea of ​​my experience looking at petty tyrants (after all, he had been a children’s shepherd).”

The description of such a meeting was quickly met with skepticism by experts on US-North Korea relations. When Noem was a member of the House Armed Services Committee from 2013 to 2015, relations between North Korea and the United States were tense and a congressional delegation meeting with Kim would have raised considerable awareness, Syd Seiler said. a former US intelligence officer who spent decades working on the relationship with North Korea.

“Nothing like this happened,” he said, adding that he was working at the White House and State Department during that period and had not been notified of a congressional meeting with Kim.

Noem joined an international congressional trip, known as codel, to Japan, South Korea and China in 2014.

In the book, Noem also writes that she was “scheduled to meet” with Macron in November last year while she was in Paris for a conference of European conservative leaders, but then canceled when he made comments she considered “pro-Hamas.”

However, Macron’s office told The Associated Press that no “direct invitation” had been made for Noem to meet the French president, although he did not rule out that she may have been invited to an event in Paris that he was also attending. planned to attend.

Fury said: “The governor was invited to sit in President Macron’s box for the Armistice Day Parade at the Arc de Triomphe. Following his anti-Israel comments, he decided to cancel.”

Meanwhile, Noem is trying to fend off bipartisan backlash over the book’s description of shooting her hunting dog, as well as a goat.

“Don’t believe the twisted spin of #fakenews media,” he posted this week on X, formerly Twitter. “I had to choose between the safety of my children and an animal that had a history of attacking people and killing livestock.”

Her spokesman, Fury, also called scrutiny of the errors in Noem’s book biased, saying: “The media will, of course, try to make these small problems huge, but they will continue to downplay Joe’s repeated false claims. Biden…”

Still, members of Congress have mocked Noem, along with Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, and Susan Wild. a Democrat from Pennsylvania. and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who launched a dog lovers’ group in Congress this week.

Moskowitz said in X that one of the group’s rules was “you can’t kill a puppy.”

NOTE: The original air date of the video attached to this article is April 29, 2024.