Overview

• The New York Times, citing about 20 current and former officials, disclosed a 2019 SEAL Team 6 mission to plant an intercept on Kim Jong-un that failed and remains classified, with U.S. agencies declining public comment.
• Planners deployed two mini-submersibles from a nuclear submarine toward Yonghung Bay, restricted real-time communications and aerial surveillance, and sent eight operators ashore to install the device.
• A small North Korean boat approached during the insertion, the SEALs opened fire and killed civilians described as fishermen, concealed the bodies, sank the craft, and aborted without placing the intercept.
• The report says the operation required presidential approval and received Trump’s green light; after publication, Trump said he did not know of the mission.
• Key congressional overseers were not notified, later reviews cited reconnaissance, maneuver and communication failures, and satellites observed increased North Korean military activity with no public statement from Pyongyang.