Japan Issues False Missile Alert Days After Hawai‘i’s Mistake

Japan broadcast network, NHK is apologizing after issuing a false alert that said North Korea had probably launched a missile.

NHK reports that the false message was issued over the public broadcaster’s Japanese apps and website on Tuesday. The broadcaster reports that the wrong information was corrected a few minutes later.

The incident comes in the wake of Hawaiʻi’s false alert that was sent out by human error on Saturday morning. It took 38 minutes for authorities to correct the false alert in Hawaiʻi.

Hawaiʻi Governor David Ige on Monday issued a formal address to the public offering a personal apology for Saturday’s incident, and announcing the signing of an executive order, appointing a Brigadier General to oversee additional safeguards and improvements to the system.

The state has since created a pre-scripted cancellation message and imposed a two-step, two-person rule for all TV, radio and wireless activation.

The executive order outlines the appointment of Brigadier General Kenneth Hara to oversee the comprehensive review of the emergency management enterprise and to immediately implement needed changes. He has 30 days to file an initial action plan and 60 days to come up with a formal report.

The governor says he has also been pushing for the ability to test the cellular alerts, just as the state conducts its monthly siren test. But it has been blocked nationwide.