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| ▲ This file photo, taken June 30, 2019, shows U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom. (Yonhap) |
US SEAL-NK mission
Secret U.S. SEAL mission to plant device to intercept Kim's communications failed in 2019: NYT
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- A group of the United States' Navy special operations personnel infiltrated into North Korea in early 2019 on a high-risk mission to install a device to intercept North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's communications, but the mission fell apart as it came across a North Korean civilian boat, a report said Friday.
The New York Times (NYT) reported that the classified mission by Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) Team 6 -- the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden, the founder of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda -- proceeded when Pyongyang engaged in high-level nuclear talks with President Donald Trump's first administration.
It elaborated on the botched mission that killed the unarmed North Korean crew of the boat, basing the report on interviews with two dozen people, including civilian government officials, members of the first Trump administration and current and former service members.
The mission came at a time when Trump's personal diplomacy with Kim raised cautious hope for a resolution to North Korea's nuclear quandary that bedeviled past U.S. administrations. Trump held three in-person meetings with Kim -- the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the last at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.
Though the mission got bogged down, the SEALs initially thought they could pull it off given their past experience, the NYT said, citing a hitherto undisclosed mission in 2005 during which SEALs used a mini-sub to go ashore in North Korea and leave unnoticed.
The 2019 mission was born as U.S. intelligence agencies made a suggestion to the White House to address America's intelligence problem regarding North Korea by planting a newly developed electronic device meant to intercept Kim's communications.
In the fall of 2018, Joint Special Operations Command, which overseas SEAL Team 6, received approval from Trump to begin preparing for the mission, the NYT said, citing military officials. The Navy team practiced for months in U.S. waters and continued preparations into the first weeks of 2019.
The plan for the mission called for the Navy to sneak a nuclear-powered submarine into the waters off the North and then deploy a small team of SEALs in two mini-subs that would motor to the shore.
The mission collapsed when the SEAL team came across a small boat with a crew of North Koreans who were shining flashlights and talking as if they had noticed something, the report said.
The team killed all North Koreans aboard the boat who appeared to be diving for shellfish. All the SEALs retreated and escaped unharmed as their plan required them to abort immediately if they encountered anyone.
It was unclear whether the North had a grasp of what happened during the mission.
The Pentagon refused to comment.
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