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President Donald Trump said Friday, September 5, he didn't know "anything" about what the New York Times reported was a classified 2019 SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea in which unarmed North Korean civilians were killed during an aborted operation.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked by a reporter: "Can you confirm that it happened?"

Also read: Inside Trump’s top secret North Korea raid, deadly midnight shootout sparked chaos in 2019

"I don't know anything about it. I'm hearing it now for the first time," he responded.

Pentagon and military officials decline comment

The Pentagon and US Special Operations Command declined to comment to ABC News about The New York Times report. ABC News has not confirmed the details in the report.

New York Times report details on North Korea operation

The account, citing "two dozen people, including civilian government officials, members of the first Trump administration and current and former military personnel with knowledge of the mission" who spoke to the Times anonymously, said Trump had approved the mission.

SEAL Team 6 mission objectives in North Korea

SEAL Team 6 commandos, the Times said, were to plant a device that would "let the United States intercept the communications of North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-un, amid high-level nuclear talks with President Trump."

Civilian deaths during North Korea mission

The US team members feared they had been spotted by a North Korean boat that was approaching the area, the Times reported. The SEALs opened fire, killing all aboard the boat, according to the Times.

Also read: When Trump sent US Navy SEAL team that killed Bin Laden into North Korea. Here's all about the secret miss

Upon inspection, none of the people in the boat was armed, the Times reported, and evidence "suggested that the crew, which people briefed on the mission said numbered two or three people, had been civilians diving for shellfish."