WASHINGTON — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is releasing a new book called \u201cNo Going Back,\u201d but on Friday her office said she would actually be going back to correct some errors \u2014 including a false claim that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Republican governor’s new book was part of an overt effort to be selected as a running mate for Donald Trump<\/a>, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but it has already faced bipartisan backlash for a story of how she once shot her hunting dog. Then, after scrutiny of her descriptions of meetings with international leaders, her spokesperson Ian Fury said in a statement that it was an error to include Kim in a list of world leaders who Noem has met \u2014 and the publisher would correct any future editions of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noem’s political prospects were already falling amid widespread disgust for how she recounted killing her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket after it had shown aggressive behavior and killed her neighbor’s chickens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her soon-to-be-released book, \u201cNo Going Back: The Truth on What\u2019s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” Noem also describes instances where she has stood up to international leaders \u2014 anecdotes that would have bolstered her foreign policy experience \u2014 but those were swiftly called into question. She writes about canceling a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s descriptions of the meetings, Fury said that the book “has two small errors. This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the meeting with Kim, Fury said Noem also mistook the dates in which she spoke with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe book has not been released yet, and all future editions will be corrected,\u201d Fury added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a section of the book about meeting with international leaders, Noem writes: \u201cThrough my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders \u2014 some who wanted our help, and some who didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember when I met with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,\u201d she writes. “I\u2019m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I\u2019d been a children\u2019s pastor after all).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The description of such a meeting was quickly challenged and described as implausible by experts on U.S.-North Korea relations. When Noem was a member of the House Armed Services Committee from 2013 to 2015, relations between the two countries were tense and a congressional delegation meeting with Kim would have generated considerable awareness, said Syd Seiler, a former U.S. intelligence officer who spent decades working on the relationship with North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing like this happened,\u201d he said, adding that he was working at the White House and State Department during that time period and was not notified of a congressional meeting with Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n