Japan's J-Alert alert mistakenly sent to nine islands

TV screens display J-Alert warnings at The Asahi Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters on the morning of October 4. Takashi Ogawa A government spokesman apologized for the confusion triggered by the country's J-Alert national early warning system that was mistakenly sent to residents of far-flung islands south of Tokyo after a North Korean ballistic missile launch on October 4.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said that the alert should have been issued for Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, but the alert was mistakenly sent to nine towns and villages in Tokyo's Izu and Ogasawara islands.

Matsuno apologized for causing concern to the residents at a news conference in the morning of October 5.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said at a news conference that the erroneous warning was issued because information on the areas where the J-Alert was sent in a past evacuation drill had remained unaffected due to a system malfunction.

Seiji Kihara, another deputy chief cabinet secretary, told the news conference on the morning of October 6 that the glitch that caused the problem was fixed by the end of October 5.

J-Alerts are issued whenever a missile is launched that threatens to reach Japan s territory or pass over the archipelago to warn of imminent danger and urge the public to evacuate to safety.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile at 7: 22 a.m. on October 4, according to Japanese government officials.

The missile landed over Aomori Prefecture and fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean, marking the first time in five years since the last incident.

The J-Alert was issued to residents in the Tokyo islands and the Hokkaido islands on October 4 at 7: 27 a.m. It was then updated to cover Aomori Prefecture, as well as the islands, at 7: 29 a.m.

The missile passed over Aomori Prefecture between 7: 28 a.m. and 7: 29 p.m. just as the updated J-Alert was issued.

On October 5, lawmakers who attended the ruling Liberal Democratic Party criticized the timing and accuracy of the J-Alert. Some clamored for urgent verification of the system.