Kristi Noem’s publisher is removing Kim Jong Un anecdote

The publisher of ‘No Going Back’, the book from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, has announced it is removing a passage regarding her meeting Kim Jong Un “as soon as technically possible.”

On Sunday, Center Street, the publisher behind the book, confirmed in a statement posted on X: “At the request of Governor Noem, we are removing a passage regarding Kim Jong Un from her book No Going Back, upon reprint of the print edition and as soon as technically possible on the audio and ebook editions. Further questions about the passage should be referred to the author.”

Speaking on Face the Nation earlier Sunday, Noem declined to outright say she had never met Kim Jong Un, but said: “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, many world leaders, I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits, so I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days, and that those edits will be in place and they will have the updated version.”

Noem spokesman Ian Fury told the Washington Examiner last week that the mention of Kim was an error and it would be corrected.

The book has taken on a life of its own after a passage in which Republican Noem detailed killing an unruly family dog called Cricket, which she described as “dangerous.” The anecdote has sparked outrage amongst dog lovers all over the U.S. The anecdote is understood to have seriously dented any chance she might have at being the running mate of former president Donald Trump.

But another passage raised eyebrows in which she claimed to have stared down the diminutive despot ruler of North Korea.

“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 in the book, according to the Dakota Scout. “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).”

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Noem represented South Dakota in the House of Representatives from 2011 until 2019, and served on the House Armed Services Committee from 2013 to 2015. No Congressional delegation made any reported trip to North Korea during her time on the committee.