South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem continued to claim on Sunday that she visited North Korea, citing a trip to South Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ) as evidence.
Noem, 52, is struggling with a passage in her upcoming book in which she talks about looking down on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, but she has since said she plans to revise the story. ing.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan claimed Sunday that she has visited the famously isolated hermit kingdom, but countered by saying, “You’ve never been there.” .
Nomu replied: he has been there. ”
She added: “I went to the DMZ. And there’s a lot in the book about going to the DMZ, and I’m happy to share those details.”
The DMZ is a roughly 160-mile long buffer zone separating North and South Korea, and is heavily fortified with military equipment and troops on both sides.
Tourists can see North Korea from South Korea’s demilitarized zone.
But few U.S. politicians have actually visited the pariah state of North Korea, which is notorious for human rights abuses.
Back in 2019, former President Donald Trump became the first sitting commander-in-chief to cross 20 steps beyond the demilitarized zone into North Korea.
last year, bipartisan delegation Members of Congress, led by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), visited South Korea’s demilitarized zone but did not enter North Korea.
The late former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (Democratic) is also known to have visited enemy countries several times in the past as an unofficial negotiator for the United States.
There is indeed evidence that Noem was on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone when she served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
One of Noem’s former colleagues, former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), posted images from the 2014 trip on social media.
Not long after, he posted a selfie with Noem on the Great Wall of China.
Noem served on the House Armed Services Committee from 2013 to 2015.
Last week, an early version of her upcoming book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, dubiously claimed that she had met with “North Korean President Kim Jong Un.” There was found.
“I remember when I met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,” she wrote. “I think he underestimated me, not knowing anything about my experience looking down on little tyrants (I was a children’s pastor).”
Noem spokesperson I will explain later Her upcoming book had “two small errors” that were passed on to her “ghostwriter and editor,” she said.
But on Sunday, when Brennan claimed, “You haven’t met with Kim Jong Un,” Noem glossed over the error.
“No, I’ve met so many world leaders, so many world leaders,” she answered.
“I’m not going to talk about specific meetings with world leaders. I’m not going to do that,” Noem continued.
“This anecdote should not have been in the book, so as soon as this anecdote was brought to my attention, I made sure it was corrected.”
At one point, Brennan confronted the South Dakota governor about why he didn’t notice the mistake while recording the audio for his book.
“I took action to make sure that [corrected]” Noem emphasized.
Her upcoming memoir is scheduled to hit bookshelves on Tuesday.
Noem had been widely speculated as President Trump’s running mate, but several confidants close to the former president have recently thrown cold water on that.
