Japanese Public Network "NHK" Raises False Alarm, Just Days After Hawaii

With foreign tensions rising to such a high tenor in recent weeks, yet another false missile alert has been released, this time via a Japanese media outlet. According to reports by NPR and CNN, Japanese public network, NHK, erroneously notified followers of an incoming ballistic missile. The notification, which was pushed to NHK app users just before 7 p.m., instructed locals to seek shelter both indoors and underground. 

Japanese network NHK's false missile-alert notifications.

Thankfully, the alert was rescinded and corrected within ten minutes of its release, rectified much more efficiently than the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency's thirty-eight minute effort. In addition, NHK has released an on-air apology to its viewers. 

Luckily, the scope of NHK's false-alarm impact was measurably smaller than HEMA's, as only NHK app users were notified. Both the Japanese government and the network were quick to denounce the existence of an official alert; notifications of this magnitude are typically disseminated via national government "J alert."

This particular event hits especially close to home for Japanese citizens. North Korea has actively launched missile tests in the region, some of which have terminated in waters roughly 100-200 miles from the Japanese mainland. As rhetoric escalates, the threat of armed conflict has been growing ever more realistic. 

NHK has stated that widespread panic has been averted, and that an internal investigation is being launched into the cause of the false alarm.