Navy SEALs reportedly killed North Korean fishermen to hide a failed mission

Special Operations Culture and Effectiveness

• Commenters compare the mission to WWII-style raids: small, isolated teams on a “knife’s edge” without nearby support.
• Debate over SEAL/special-operations culture: some emphasize selection for intelligence and teamwork, not “loose cannons”; others see “Type A” risk-takers and “macho glory hounds.”
• The true success rate of such missions is seen as unknowable due to classification; public perception is skewed by only hearing about successful or dramatized operations.
• High‑profile examples like the bin Laden raid and “Lone Survivor” are argued over: some present them as skillful, others as deeply botched and later mythologized or propagandistic.

Ethics, War Crimes, and Rules of Engagement

• Many commenters describe the killing of unarmed fishermen, then mutilating bodies to sink them, as straightforward murder and a war crime.
• Others attempt to reason from the operators’ perspective: discovery could compromise a mission intended to prevent nuclear attack, suggesting a harsh risk calculus.
• Strong pushback: international humanitarian law forbids targeting civilians, regardless of mission value or risk of discovery; the correct response was to abort or flee, not kill witnesses.
• Comparisons are made to Japanese actions before Pearl Harbor, US conduct in Vietnam and other wars, and alleged Israeli and North Korean operations; the pattern is framed as systemic, not exceptional.

Secrecy, Oversight, and Democratic Legitimacy

• Serious concern that key congressional overseers were reportedly not briefed, before or after, suggesting a breakdown of civilian oversight.
• Some see the leak and timing as politically motivated; others argue motive is secondary to exposing an operation that nearly triggered a crisis with a nuclear state.
• Broader criticism that representative democracy allows secret actions the public would never approve if openly debated.

Media, Propaganda, and Public Perception

• Discussion of ex‑operators’ books, podcasts, and YouTube channels: many suspect heavy ghostwriting, embellishment, and DoD‑aligned PR to aid recruitment.
• Hollywood’s portrayal of “honorable” US forces is contrasted with this incident; some argue even stories where heroes oppose corrupt governments still function as sophisticated propaganda.

Tactics and Plausibility of the Mission

• Commenters question basic tradecraft: bright lights in the minisub, rapid decision to open fire instead of waiting or aborting.
• Speculation about the bugging device (e.g., cable taps, shore-based sensors) mostly concludes the technical story is incomplete or may itself be a cover narrative.