Japanese public broadcaster NHK issued a false alarm about a North Korean missile launch on Tuesday, just days after a similar gaffe caused panic in Hawaii, but the broadcaster managed to correct the error within minutes.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the mistake.
“We are still checking,” an NHK spokesperson said.
NHK’s 6.55 p.m. alert said: “North Korea appears to have launched a missile … The government urges people to take shelter inside buildings or underground.”
The same alert was sent to mobile phone users of NHK’s online news distribution service.
In five minutes, the broadcaster put out another message correcting itself.
Tensions heightened
Regional tension soared after North Korea in September conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test, and in November said it had successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach all of the U.S. mainland. It regularly threatens to destroy Japan and the United States.
There were no immediate reports of panic or other disruption following the Japanese report.
Cars drive past a highway sign that says ‘Missile alert error there is no threat’ on the H-1 Freeway in Honolulu, in this Saturday photo provided by Civil Beat. (Cory Lum/Associated Press)
Human error and a lack of fail-safe measures during a civil defence warning drill led to the false missile alert that stirred panic across Hawaii, a state emergency management agency spokesperson said.
Elaborating on the origins of Saturday’s false alarm, which went uncorrected for nearly 40 minutes, spokesperson Richard Rapoza said the employee who mistakenly sent the missile alert had been “temporarily reassigned” to other duties.
