A brand new report from the New York Occasions claims that in 2019, Navy SEAL Workforce 6 carried out a covert operation inside North Korea to plant a spying system. The mission allegedly failed, resulting in the deaths of civilian fishermen, and reportedly concerned using a “stealth helicopter.”
A high-risk mission inside North Korea, a failed operation, and the killing of a handful of fishermen. That is the sensational declare made in a current New York Occasions scoop, which reviews that SEAL Workforce 6’s Pink Squadron was despatched to the North Korean coast in 2019 to put in a tool able to intercepting Kim Jong Un’s communications.
In line with the NYT account, the White Home, “blind” in its intelligence on Pyongyang forward of the 2019 Trump–Kim summit in Hanoi, gave the go forward to an insertion of SEALs from a U.S. assault submarine positioned offshore. Two mini-subs had been launched, every carrying 4 operators. A backup drive remained offshore, together with an asset described as a stealth helicopter, able to intervene in case of emergency.
The raid reportedly went incorrect virtually instantly. One mini-sub landed off place. A North Korean fishing boat appeared on scene, its crew shining flashlights into the darkish waters. Fearing detection, the SEALs opened hearth, 2-3 fishermen had been killed. The SEALs then scuttled the vessel earlier than aborting the mission and returning to the submarine. U.S. spy satellites later tracked heightened exercise by North Korean patrol craft within the space, however Pyongyang by no means acknowledged any incursion.
Standing: Unconfirmed
On the time of writing, the story stays unconfirmed and it’s not possible to confirm it. Some analysts even argue that the leak itself may very well be deliberate, both to discredit the Trump administration by highlighting a reckless covert operation, or to deceive the general public into believing the raid was a failure when it might in actual fact have achieved its aims.
Q: “There’s some new reporting on North Korea and this Navy SEAL incident in 2019. Are you able to say if the administration has engaged with North Korea on that incident because it occurred not too long ago?”
Trump: “I don’t know something about it.”
Q: “Are you able to verify that it occurred?”… pic.twitter.com/aoWxgAZYos
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) September 5, 2025
The New York Occasions is well known as a good information establishment and has gained extra Pulitzer Prizes than some other group. Nonetheless, it has additionally had some journalistic missteps through the years. A quick on-line search factors to some fabricated tales by reporter Jayson Blair, to controversial protection of the Holocaust, or more moderen (2023) misreporting in regards to the Gaza hospital incident. These “incidents” don’t undermine the NYT’s total journalistic standing. Nonetheless, as all the time, even probably the most authoritative sources shouldn’t be trusted a priori, very a lot in keeping with the “Zero Belief” idea we now have usually recalled.
There’s an IT Safety mannequin that needs to be used on social media: “Zero Belief”. In Twitter context: nothing could be trusted by default; the whole lot needs to be, consistently, challenged. This doesn’t apply to data unfold by accounts with no credentials solely; it applies to all sources.
— David Cenciotti (@cencio4) October 3, 2020
Project to SEAL Workforce 6 and the Stealth Helicopter
Some observers have reacted with robust skepticism towards the New York Occasions story. Their fundamental level: if such an operation really came about, it might have been labeled on the highest potential stage. Broadcasting the main points years later, full with specifics on items, platforms, and tactical mishaps, seems much less like reporting and extra like a deliberate act of sabotage disguised as information.
The narrative itself additionally raises some purple flags. Would DEVGRU (SEAL Workforce 6) actually be tasked with a high-profile amphibious raid inside North Korea, and simply weeks earlier than nuclear talks in Hanoi?
The alleged mission’s task to SEAL Workforce 6 raises questions too. This affiliation could also be both believable or a purple flag suggesting narrative shaping. Notably, the NYT story particularly mentions the mission being assigned to DEVGRU’s Pink Squadron, along with their earlier high-profile mission to kill Osama bin Laden. It have to be famous, nevertheless, that the few accessible particulars about DEVGRU point out Pink Squadron is an assault unit, whereas Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations, together with clandestine intelligence gathering, are often assigned to Black Squadron.
Roughly the identical reasoning applies to the “stealth rotary wing plane” that, in accordance with the report, had been deployed to help the mission. If this element is correct, it echoes the one confirmed real-world deployment of a stealth helicopter, the “Stealth Black Hawk” or “Silent Hawk” or MH-X, used through the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011. Our earlier investigations into low-observable rotorcraft and secretive particular ops make this declare notably intriguing. Nonetheless, it must be taken with a grain of salt: within the context of a clandestine mission behind enemy traces, radar-evading rotary-wing plane all the time appear to be a becoming ingredient.
Certainly, since Operation Neptune’s Spear in Abbottabad in 2011, it’s not the primary time a daring particular operation has been stated to contain “stealth helicopters,” regardless that such claims have by no means been formally confirmed. As an illustration, stealth Black Hawks, described as upgraded variants of those utilized in 2011, had been stated to have been utilized in 2014 to penetrate 200 miles into Syria to help a mission of the U.S. Military Delta Power. There’s at the moment no proof of using such helicopters.
🧵 1/ The Day We Discovered Concerning the Stealth Black Hawk Used within the OBL Raid
On Might 3, 2011, the world obtained its first glimpse of a secret helicopter—utilized by Navy SEALs within the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Right here’s the story of how we uncovered it, and the way a single tail rotor… pic.twitter.com/rLzJxaQQAz
— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) Might 2, 2025
One other side which is value of notice, and to which the identical reasoning may very well be utilized as soon as once more, is the killing of the fishermen. That is harking back to an identical state of affairs, surrounded by controversy, which some sources stated was mentioned throughout Operation Pink Wings in Afghanistan in 2005, later portrayed within the movie Lone Survivor. A four-man SEAL staff was compromised when it was found by native shepherds shortly after insertion throughout a reconnaissance mission. The movie and a few sources declare that the SEALs mentioned whether or not to kill them or allow them to free, one thing that reportedly by no means occurred as they had been briefly restrained after which freed.
For all of the above causes, separating believable information from fiction is sort of troublesome.
Summing up, too many facets of the story stay no less than murky: the precise touchdown space (presumably close to Wonsan, the place Kim has a villa and yacht pier), the variety of casualties, and the Pentagon’s after-action findings of communication failures and navigational errors.
The timing of the leak, coming simply after Kim Jong Un’s current high-profile look in Beijing with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, provides one other layer of intrigue.
Does a Stealth Black Hawk nonetheless exist?
Whether or not the operation occurred as described, was distorted for political functions, or was leaked as a part of a deliberate disinformation marketing campaign, one focal point stays: the persistent shadow of the stealth helicopter, first uncovered through the OBL raid but nonetheless shrouded in secrecy virtually 15 years later (presumably as a result of it stays in service and able to be deployed when wanted).
All through the years, many claims had been made about extremely modified Black Hawk helicopter, all the time in need of new proof. As of 2025, the one proof of the existence of those stealthier Black Hawk helicopters for particular operations was represented by the photographs and movies of the crashed helicopter after the Osama bin Laden raid.
Many photographs emerged on-line had been verified to be simply photographs of the mockup of the stealth helicopter used for the movie Zero Darkish Thirthy, which recounted the 2011 raid. Moreover, whereas the photographs from Abbottabad present the tail part, we don’t understand how the remainder of the true helicopter seems like.
Some on-line reviews point out that solely two stealth Black Hawk helicopters existed in 2011 and extra have been constructed after the raid. Different reviews point out that the brand new helicopters are much more superior and outlined as second era. Once more, each these facets are not possible to confirm.
Equally, a number of reviews declare to know the place these helicopters are primarily based, mentioning Nellis AFB, Groom Lake or the Tonopah Take a look at Vary Airport. The identical goes for his or her operator, with a lot of the reviews claiming it’s the U.S. Military’s a hundred and sixtieth Particular Operations Aviation Regiment.
After virtually 15 years, it appears one of many largest particular operations’ aviation dilemmas will keep nonetheless unsolved. Categorized on the highest ranges, it’s potential this helicopter will preserve flying within the shadows with out us even understanding what it seems like, not solely feeding its legendary standing, but in addition stopping its potential identification in a world the place even a small blurry picture, shared on-line, can result in the invention of secret packages.
