The U.S. Navy's special forces conducted a covert operation to eavesdrop on Kim Jong Un during President Donald Trump's first term in 2019, infiltrating the North Korean waters, but the mission failed due to the appearance of a vessel carrying civilians, The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 5th.
NYT reported this by citing dozens of current and former U.S. officials, noting that the situation has remained classified until now.
According to NYT, the operation involved the elite SEAL Team 6 from the U.S. Navy's special forces. The special forces were tasked with installing equipment capable of eavesdropping on the communications of Chairperson Kim Jong Un and infiltrated North Korean waters by submarine at midnight in the winter of 2019.
However, as some of them were reaching the shore, a vessel carrying several North Korean civilians appeared over the dark sea. Fearing detection, the special forces eliminated them and then returned to the submarine, resulting in the operation's failure.
The timing of this operation was during the period when President Trump was continuing talks with Chairperson Kim at the Singapore summit in 2018 and the Hanoi summit in 2019, with the U.S. attempting to eavesdrop on Chairperson Kim in preparation for denuclearization negotiations with North Korea, according to NYT.