'No way': Foreign policy experts question Noem’s 'dubious' account of meeting North Korean dictator

03 May 2024

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's hopes of becoming presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate may have been destroyed by the puppy shooting controversy. Noem has been drawing widespread criticism — even among fellow Republicans — for an anecdote in her new book "No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward" in which she describes taking a dog to a gravel pit on a farm, shooting it and killing it.

Although that anecdote is receiving a great deal of attention, it is only one of the many things Noem talks about in her book. Noem, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for eight years before becoming South Dakota governor, also talks about her foreign policy experience.

But according to the Dakota Scout, an "alleged meeting" with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un described in Noem's book is "in dispute."

Scout reporters Austin Goss and Jonathan Ellis, in an article published on May 2, explain, "In 'No Going Back,' Noem says she met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while serving in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee. Last year, as governor, she says she canceled a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. But neither account has been verified by congressional travel documents or outside sources reviewed by The Dakota Scout. And The Scout confirmed with the French president's office that Macron never had a meeting scheduled with Noem."

A Capitol staffer interviewed by The Scout, presumably on condition of anonymity, said of Noem's alleged meeting with Jong Un, "It's b*****t."

According to Goss and Ellis, "That staffer was among a dozen staffers interviewed by The Scout who said they had no knowledge of the meeting, or who said Noem had never mentioned it before…. Noem served on the House Armed Services Committee from 2013-2015. During that period, committee members, including Noem, visited China in 2014. But there is no record of Kim being in China then."

George A. Lopez, a professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana known for his focus on foreign policy, pointed out that even former President Barack Obama didn't meet with Jong Un during that period.

Lopez (not to be confused with the comedian/actor), told the Scout, "I don't see any conceivable way that a single junior member of Congress without explicit escort from the U.S. State Department and military would be meeting with a leader from North Korea. What would have been so critical in his bag of tricks that he would have met with an American lawmaker, this one distinctively?"

Another scholar known for foreign policy expertise, Virginia Commonwealth University's

Benjamin Young, described Noem's account of meeting Jong Un as "dubious."

Young told the Scout, "There's no way. There's no way…. I cover North Korea very closely, and I have never heard of Kim Jong Un meeting congressmen or congresswomen."

Read the Dakota Scout's full report at this link.

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