After Hawaii, Japan's NHK issues false missile alert

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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 it managed to correct the error within minutes. It was not immediately clear what triggered the mistake.

"We are still checking," an NHK spokesman 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.

There were no immediate reports of panic or other disruption following the Japanese report. "We're very sorry," NHK said on its website, without explaining further. Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship, with Pyongyang routinely issuing verbal threats as well as firing missiles near or above Japan.

5
No. of minutes within which the website corrected itself

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