A 2019 mission in North Korea, which intended to have Navy SEALs plant an electronic device to intercept communications of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, resulted in an unsuccessful operation that left unarmed North Koreans dead, according to a report from the New York Times on Friday.
The mission, which took place during President Donald Trump’s first term, required the president’s direct approval, the Times reports, and came amid high-level nuclear talks between the US and North Korea.
The White House and Pentagon declined to comment. CNN has also reached out to the US Special Operations Command and North Korea’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York for comment on the report.
According to the Times, SEAL Team Six’s Red Squadron rehearsed for months for a plan that would require the Navy to slip a nuclear-powered submarine into North Korean waters, alongside two mini-subs of SEALs who would motor along the shore before swimming to the target to install the electronic device.
The SEAL Team Six, which is a secretive US military unit formed in 1980, has worked on a range of secret, dangerous and high-risk missions, including carrying out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
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