A New York Times report says a top-secret team of U.S. Navy SEALs entered North Korea in early 2019 to plant a device meant to intercept the communications of leader Kim Jong Un, but the operation unraveled after the SEALs opened fire on unarmed civilians and were forced to abort the mission.
According to the report, the mission was carried out by SEAL Team 6’s Red Squadron and had required the direct approval of President Donald Trump. The account, based on interviews with about two dozen people — including civilian government officials, members of the first Trump administration and current and former military personnel — says the SEALs fired on civilians who were diving for shellfish and then tried to conceal the deaths by puncturing the victims’ lungs. The operation ultimately ended without the interception device being installed, the report said.
The report identified the unit involved as the same Red Squadron of SEAL Team 6 that carried out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. It characterized the mission as extremely risky: U.S. forces on North Korean soil would have been a severe breach with potential diplomatic fallout, and capture of American special operators could have imperiled high-level negotiations and produced a hostage crisis.
The operation is described as having taken place amid delicate nuclear diplomacy between Mr. Trump and Kim Jong Un. The two leaders held summits in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi in 2019, and the report said intercepting North Korean leader communications could have provided critical intelligence during that period.
The New York Times account attributes its details to multiple current and former officials and others with direct knowledge of the mission. The newspaper reports that participants considered the potential consequences if the team had been detected, including the possibility that the discovery would have collapsed talks between Washington and Pyongyang or led to the detention of U.S. personnel.
The report’s depiction of lethal force against unarmed civilians, and the claim that operators attempted to conceal the deaths, raises legal and ethical questions about the conduct of the mission. The report did not include independently verified photographic or forensic evidence of the alleged civilian deaths. The United States government has not publicly confirmed operational details described in the account.
If accurate, the episode would add to a string of previously unreported or little-known special-operations missions undertaken during the Trump administration and highlights the risks that covert action can pose to broader diplomatic efforts. Analysts and officials quoted in the report describe the operation as emblematic of a high-stakes approach to intelligence collection in a tightly controlled and hostile environment.
The New York Times report follows longstanding secrecy around special operations and signals renewed scrutiny of decisions taken at the highest levels to authorize risky covert actions. North Korea has historically reacted strongly to incursions and espionage, and the prospect of U.S. forces on its soil has been a persistent source of tension between Washington and Pyongyang.
The newspaper’s account includes interviews with people who described the operation in detail but does not include an official on-the-record confirmation from U.S. or North Korean authorities. The report may prompt new inquiries within U.S. oversight bodies and add to debates about the oversight and authorization of covert missions that carry significant diplomatic and human risks.