South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem did not confirm whether she had met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when addressing the inaccuracies reported in her new book.
Noem has been facing increasing criticism regarding her upcoming book, which is scheduled for release this week, due to her account of shooting and killing a dog and a goat on her property about 20 years ago. Lately, she has faced further scrutiny after stating in her book that she had met Kim while serving in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee.
The Dakota Scout stated last week that a meeting between Noem and Kim would likely not have been possible, referring to interviews with congressional staffers and North Korea analysts. Although Noem had visited China as part of her time on the committee in 2014, there were no reports of Kim leaving North Korea until 2018, when Noem was campaigning for governor, according to the outlet.
Noem’s office later explained to The Hill that Kim “was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been.”
Host Margaret Brennan questioned Noem on CBS’s “Face the Nation” about whether she had actually met Kim and how that story was included in her book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.”
“As soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this passage, and I’ve met with many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we made some edits,” Noem responded.
Brennan then asked again if she met Kim, but Noem did not give a clear answer.
“I’ve met with numerous world leaders, I've traveled extensively. I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I’ve had. I’m not going to discuss my specific meetings with world leaders, so I’m just not going to do that,” she said.
“This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that that was adjusted,” she added.
The book reportedly detailed Noem’s encounter with Kim during her travels.
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience dealing with little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all),” she reportedly wrote in the book.
