Navy SEALs Opened Fire on a Civilian Fishing Boat in Failed 2019 Mission to Plant a Bug in North Korea: Report

Screenshot via CBS.

A previously unreported, failed Navy SEAL operation to plant a bug in North Korea resulted in soldiers opening fire on a civilian fishing boat, killing unarmed fishermen.

The 2019 operation was revealed in a Friday report from the New York Times. Its purpose was to install a listening device on North Korean soil to intercept the government’s communications — giving President Donald Trump additional intelligence ahead of his meeting with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

For the mission, SEAL Team 6’s Red Squadron was chosen. It was the same team responsible for the killing of terror leader Osama Bin Laden.

The team was tasked with landing on North Korean shores, planting the device, and immediately retreating. Due to the secretive nature of the operation, however, drones could not fly overhead to provide a clear picture of the area.

The soldiers, as the report noted, were essentially blind.

That led to deadly consequences when a boat was spotted in the darkness. While one team was convinced the boat had spotted the lights from their mini-subs underwater, the other team believed they were still in the clear. Because there was no communication between teams, someone had to make a choice. The report continued:

As the shore team watched the North Korean in the water, the senior enlisted SEAL at the shore chose a course of action. He wordlessly centered his rifle and fired. The other SEALs instinctively did the same.

After the team opened fire, they swam to the boat to check the bodies. The people on the boat appeared to be nothing more than fishermen:

The shore team swam to the boat to make sure that all of the North Koreans were dead. They found no guns or uniforms. Evidence suggested that the crew, which people briefed on the mission said numbered two or three people, had been civilians diving for shellfish. All were dead, including the man in the water.

Officials familiar with the mission said the SEALs pulled the bodies into the water to hide them from the North Korean authorities. One added that the SEALs punctured the boat crew’s lungs with knives to make sure their bodies would sink.

SEAL Team 6 escaped the failed mission unharmed. Although U.S. satellites saw “surge” of North Korean military activity in the area shortly after the shooting, it was unclear if North Korea knew who was responsible for the seemingly random killing of several fishermen.