Overview

• Reporting based on about two dozen current and former officials says an elite unit tried to plant an eavesdropping device targeting Kim Jong-un in winter 2019.
• Commandos opened fire on a North Korean vessel, later determined the dead were civilian fishermen, and disposed of the bodies at sea to avoid detection.
• The team aborted without installing the device after navigational errors and a lack of real-time aerial or imaging support undercut the plan.
• Former officials told the Times the operation required Donald Trump’s direct approval, while he told reporters he knew nothing about the mission.
• The Biden administration ordered an Army inspector general review in 2021, briefed key lawmakers in secret, and the episode’s secrecy has renewed scrutiny of congressional notification rules.