South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem squirms as she is asked about dubious claims of meeting Kim Jong Un and backlash over killing her pet dog – before insisting ‘I’m not retracting anything’

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem made for uncomfortable television viewing Sunday morning when she was repeatedly challenged over claims that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Speaking CBS faces the nationasked journalist Margaret Brennan Noem about the anecdote, which would be printed in her upcoming book.

In a section discussing meetings 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 some who did not.” did.

‘I remember meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. “I’m sure he underestimated me because he had no idea of ​​my experience staring down little tyrants (after all, I had been a children’s pastor).”

But Noem seemed in no mood to offer corrections. “I am so proud of this book and what it will bring to people,” she said defiantly. “I’m not withdrawing anything.”

Kristi Noem wrote that she met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while serving in the House of Representatives, which does not appear to be true.

The description of a supposed meeting between Un and herself was quickly disputed and described as implausible by experts on US-North Korea relations – a fact not lost on Brennan when she asked Noem directly: “Do you have Kim Jong Un met?’

“You know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this passage and met with many, many world leaders. I’ve traveled the world,” Noem replied, without answering the question.

“As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went ahead and made some edits, so I’m excited that this book will be released in a few days and those edits will happen and people will have the updated version. ‘

But Brennan wasn’t done yet. “You haven’t met Kim Jong-un, is that what you mean?” she asked.

Noem was no clearer in her answer the second time.

‘I have met many world leaders and traveled around the world. I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time as a congressman, my time as governor, before governor, and some of the travels that I’ve been on.”

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is still in the doghouse over anecdotes shared in her upcoming book. She is pictured at a Trump rally in March

A Facebook photo shows South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem holding a gun. In her upcoming book, she writes about Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, who Noem shot and killed in the gravel pit on her family’s property just before her children came home from school.

Noem then tried to make her comments plausible: “I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that.

“This anecdote should not have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention I made sure it was edited,” Noem said.

Brennan then asked who she might have confused Un with before stating that she had never been to North Korea.

Noem said she had visited the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, but there were “some specifics” she was “unwilling to share.”

While former President Donald Trump met Kim three times during his presidency, Noem served in Congress from 2007 to 2011, when relations were more frosty.

Noem details a story about shooting and killing her “dangerous” 14-month-old farm puppy Cricket in her upcoming book. Another dog, Hazel, a Vizsla, is pictured

Noem has written a new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, out May 7.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Noem’s spokesman Ian Fury blamed Noem’s ghostwriter.

“It has been brought to our attention that the upcoming book ‘No Going Back’ contains two minor errors,” Fury said. “This has been passed on to the ghostwriter and editor.”

“Kim Jong Un was on a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been. The governor spoke with Nikki Haley in 2020 and met with her in 2021,” he added.

Fury called the investigation into the errors in Noem’s book biased and said: “The media will of course try to make these small issues big.”

Noem was then asked about the shooting of her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket.

Noem said she properly cared for her “untrainable” dog by taking Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her after aggressive behavior, such as killing the neighbor’s chickens and trying to bite her.

She acknowledged on

Critics argue that Noem, who shot her dog while her children were at school, could have rehomed the dog or surrendered it to a shelter that might have been better equipped to train the animal.

“The reason this story is in the book – because people need to understand who I am and some of those tough decisions,” Noem said. ‘This book is filled with vulnerable, painful moments in my life, filled with moments when I made very difficult decisions.

‘This was a dangerous animal that killed livestock and attacked people. There were many children running around and I made a difficult choice. I would ask everyone in the country to put themselves in that situation because that is what I faced. I’m talking about it because I’m fed up with politicians in this country pretending to be something they are not.’