US Navy SEALs killed North Korean civilians in failed Trump-approved mission: Report
Iran Press TV
Saturday, 06 September 2025 9:09 AM
US Navy SEALs killed several North Korean civilians during a failed 2019 mission to plant a listening device, an operation approved by then-President Donald Trump amid high-stakes diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019, a US news outlet reports.
According to a report published by the New York Times on Friday, a detachment of US Navy SEALs in two mini-submarines approached the North Korean shore on a winter night in early 2019 to plant an electronic listening device there.
However, when some of the forces were on land, a North Korean fishing boat moved toward them and its crew members began shining flashlights in their direction.
The American forces opened fire, as the report said, killing all those aboard the small fishing vessel, without specifying the number of casualties.
Citing unidentified sources, including current and former military officials with knowledge of the still-classified details, the news outlet said Trump approved the wiretapping operation in the fall of 2018 during his first administration, as he was involved in historic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The operation was designed to fix a "strategic blind spot" in US intelligence and would allow Washington to intercept the North Korean leader's communications, potentially giving Trump an advantage ahead of their planned summits.
The paper said the mission unraveled when the detachment of Navy Seals had a deadly confrontation with the North Korean boat crew members, numbering two or three, who were unarmed civilians diving for shellfish.
Having failed to install the device, the SEALs returned to a nuclear submarine that came to shallow water to pick them up, the report said.
It added that the US spy satellites picked up increased military activity in the area soon after the episode, but it was unclear whether the North Koreans ever found out exactly what had happened.
The US newspaper said a classified Pentagon review later claimed that the killings were "justified" under the rules of engagement.
'Trump met with Kim in Singapore in June 2018 in the first direct talks between the leaders of the two countries, inking a joint statement at the time and pledging complete denuclearization of Pyongyang.
They met again in February 2019 in Vietnam's Hanoi, but their talks fell through.
Since Trump's last summit with Kim, negotiations have fallen apart, and North Korea has forged ahead with its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.
Since 2006, Pyongyang has been under crippling sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear capabilities.
North Korea says it is seeking nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States and Washington's allies, including South Korea.
In January, Kim warned of an "inevitable" confrontation with hostile nations and said 2025 would be a "crucial year" for bolstering North Korea's nuclear forces.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
