Kristi Noem Falsely Claims She Met Kim Jong Un in Dog-Killing Memoir
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Kristi Noem has repeatedly affirmed that yes, she actually did murder her 14-month-old dog — but that doesn’t mean the South Dakota governor’s upcoming memoir, No Going Back, isn’t full of easily disprovable lies.
According to The Dakota Scout, which obtained a copy of the book, Noem claims that as a member of Congress, she met with elusive North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders,” Noem wrote. “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
She added that such meetings with foreign leaders take “resolve, preparation and determination.”
Noem served as a representative for South Dakota between 2011 and 2019, her tenure on the House Armed Services Committee lasted two years,between 2013-2015. While Noem did take a trip to China with the committee in 2014, according to a North Korean expert interviewed by The Dakota Scout — Kim did not leave North Korea until 2018, almost a decade after assuming leadership of the nation.
The governor’s office all but conceded that no such meeting happened in a statement to Politico on Friday. “We’ve been made aware that the publisher will be addressing conflated world leaders’ names in the book before it is released,” Noem spokesperson Ian Fury told the publication.
It’s difficult to believe that Noem confused Kim Jong Un with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but an imagined meeting with one of the world’s most notorious dictators isn’t the only international anecdote she may have fabricated.
“While in Paris, I was slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron,” Noem also writes. “However, the day before we were to meet he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press. So, I decided to cancel. There is no place for pro-Hamas rhetoric.”
According to conversations between The Dakota Scout and Macron’s office, Noem at no point had a “direct invitation” to a meeting with the French president and there was no scheduled event involving the two on his calendar. Marcon’s office conceded to the Scout that Noem could have planned to attend an event where Macron was also present.
In another anecdote reviewed by Politico, Noem accused former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley of threatening her in a phone call shortly after Noem’s election as governor.
Noem recounts Haley — who previously served as governor of South Carolina — offering to mentor her during the phone call, and telling her that she’d “heard many good things about you. But when I do hear bad things, I will make sure that you know.”
“I’m pretty sure I was just threatened by Nikki Haley. It was clear that she wanted me to know that there was only room for one Republican woman in the spotlight. It was weird,” Noem wrote. “Unsurprisingly, I never received any calls or ‘mentoring’ from her, but the message was clear. I’m the alpha female here, and you should know your place. I actually felt a little sad for her,” she added.
A spokesperson for Haley denied that the former ambassador ever threatened Noem. “Nikki has long called and written notes supporting other women when they go through challenging times,” Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told Politico. “She called Governor Noem in 2020 to encourage her when she was criticized for keeping her state open during Covid. How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird.”
Despite the myriad issues plaguing Noem’s upcoming book — from puppy killing to invented anecdotes — the governor seems committed to seeing this misguided endeavor through to its expected publication later this month. Noem is scheduled (for real this time) to appear on CBS this Sunday to promote the book.
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