South Dakota Gov. Noem Admits Mistake Describing Her Meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in New Book

WASHINGTON – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is releasing a new book called “No Going Back,” but on Friday her office said she would actually return to correct some errors, including a false claim that she once met with the North Korean leader. Kim Jong Un.

The Republican governor’s new book was part of an open effort to be selected as the running mate of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but she has already faced bipartisan backlash over a story about how she once shot her dog. hunt. Then, after examining her descriptions of meetings with international leaders, her spokesman, Ian Fury, said in a statement that it was a mistake to include Kim in a list of world leaders Noem had met with, and that the editor would correct any future edition of the report. book.

Noem’s political prospects were already falling amid widespread disgust over how she recounted killing her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket after it displayed aggressive behavior and killed her neighbor’s chickens.

In her soon-to-be published book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” Noem also describes instances in which she has confronted international leaders, anecdotes that would have strengthened her. her experience in foreign policy, but they were quickly questioned. She writes about canceling a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

After The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s descriptions of the meetings, Fury said the book “has two small errors. This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor.”

In addition to the meeting with Kim, Fury said Noem also mixed up the dates she 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 a section of the book about meeting with international leaders, Noem writes: “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 others who wanted our help. No.

“I remember meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,” he writes. “I’m sure he underestimated me, having no idea of ​​my experience looking at little tyrants (after all, he had been a children’s shepherd).”

The description of such a meeting was quickly questioned and described as implausible by experts on relations between the United States and North Korea. When Noem was a member of the House Armed Services Committee from 2013 to 2015, relations between the two countries were strained and a congressional delegation meeting with Kim would have raised considerable awareness, said Syd Seiler, a former official American 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 was not 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 had “scheduled a meeting with” Macron in November last year while she was in Paris for a conference of European conservative leaders, but 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, she decided to cancel.”

Meanwhile, Noem is trying to defend herself from the backlash for writing about shooting her dog and a goat.

“Don’t believe the twisted spin of #fakenews media,” he posted on social platform X this week. “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, of course, will try to turn these small problems into huge ones.”

Still, members of Congress have mocked Noem, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat from Florida; Susan Wild, Democrat of Pennsylvania; and Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina; launching a Congressional Dog Lovers Caucus this week.

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

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Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.