Noem backpedals on anecdote in book about meeting with Kim Jong Un
South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem is facing more controversy over her new memoir, with her spokesman saying a claim she makes about meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and an account of an interaction with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are "errors" that "will be corrected" in future editions.
Noem's book, "No Going Back," has drawn backlash for how she describes shooting and killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, in an incident she said happened 20 years ago.
Now, Noem -- widely rumored to be seeking to be a potential vice-presidential pick for former President Donald Trump -- is addressing new questions over an account of a meeting she said she had with the North Korean leader while she served in Congress.
MORE: 'She killed her chances': Kristi Noem's odds dim of being Trump's VP pick, sources say
"As a congresswoman and governor, I've met with Chinese president Xi Jingping, the king and princes of Saudi Arabia, North Korean president Kim Jong Un, the king of Jordan, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UK prime minister Boris Johnson, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and many more," Noem writes in her book.
ABC News has obtained a copy.
"Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders -- some who wanted our help, and some who didn't. 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)," Noem continued.
Now, her team is trying to clean up that misleading story, suggesting, "Kim Jong Un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn't have been," Noem's spokesman Ian Fury said in a statement to ABC News. The statement doesn't underscore why the South Dakota governor elaborated on the purported meeting with Kim.
She also describes an interaction with Haley over the phone in the summer of 2021 during which the former U.N. ambassadors allegedly said she would be Noem's mentor and would tell Noem anything bad she heard about her -- which Noem says she took as a threat.
Fury acknowledged that the timeline of the Haley conversation is muddled. Noem's spokesperson suggests, "they spoke in 2020" -- instead of 2021 as the book suggests -- and that Haley "met with her in 2021."
Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton confirmed to ABC News that Haley's calendar shows the two spoke on the phone in 2020, not 2021.
"Nikki has long called and written notes supporting other women when they go through challenging times. She called Governor Noem in 2020 to encourage her when she was criticized for keeping her state open during COVID," Denton said. "How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird."
There will be corrections to these "two small errors" to all future editions before next week's release date, Fury said.
"The book has not been released yet, and all future editions will be corrected," Fury said.
ABC News' Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.
Noem backpedals on anecdote in book about meeting with Kim Jong Un originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
