Author: Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole
Published on: 05/09/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
U.S.|How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. The 2019 operation, greenlit by President Trump, sought a strategic edge. It left unarmed North Koreans dead. The 2019 operation has never been publicly acknowledged, or even hinted at, by the United States or North Korea. The details remain classified and are being reported here for the first time. North Korea now has roughly 50 nuclear weapons and missiles that can reach the West Coast. Mr. Kim has pledged to keep expanding his nuclear program “exponentially” the SEALs believed they could pull off the mission because they had done something like it before. The 2005 operation, carried out during the presidency of George W. Bush, has never before been reported publicly. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump will start preparing. Joint Special Operations Command declined to comment. The plan called for the Navy to sneak a nuclear-powered submarine into the waters off North Korea and then deploy a small team of SEALs in two mini-subs. They would ride immersed in 40-degree ocean water for about two hours to reach the shore. But the team faced a serious limitation: It would be going in almost blind. The SEALs boarded the nuclear-powered submarine and headed for North Korea. When the submarine was in the open ocean, Mr. Trump gave the final go-ahead. The submarine neared North Korean coast and launched two mini-subs in clear shallow water. Sliding doors on the subs opened, and the SEALs swam silently underwater to shore with the listening device. Everything seemed clear. That might have been a second mistake. Back at the mini-subs, the pilots repositioned the sub that was facing the wrong way. A man from the North Korean boat splashed into the sea. The SEALs faced a critical decision, but there was no way to discuss the next move. A senior enlisted SEAL at the shore chose a course of action. All the U.S. Military personnel escaped unharmed. North Korea did not make any public statements about the deaths. By May, North Korea had resumed missile tests. Law professor Matthew Waxman said the law has gray areas that give presidents some leeway on what they tell Congress. But on more consequential missions, the burden leans more toward notification. The episode worried some experienced military officials with knowledge of the mission. Team 6 SEALs accidentally killed a hostage they were trying to rescue with a grenade. President Barack Obama curtailed Special Operations missions late in his second term. The first Trump administration reversed many of those restrictions and cut the amount of high-level deliberation for sensitive missions.
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