False air raid siren causes brief chaos at US Army camp in South Korea
By Bob FredericksDecember 27, 2019 | 12:05pm
Re:
https://nypost.com/2019/12/27/false-...n-south-korea/
A US Army camp in South Korea mistakenly blasted out an emergency air raid siren Thursday night instead of the usual playing of taps — sparking alarm after threats from North Korea about a mysterious “Christmas gift” for President Trump, according to a report.
Taps, the bugler’s song played at military funerals, was supposed to be sounded at Camp Casey at 10 p.m., Army Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division, told Stars and Stripes.
“It was human error that caused the mistake,” he said. “When the operator realized that he pushed the wrong button, they notified all the units on Camp Casey that it was a false alarm.“
Camp Casey is the closest US Army base to the North Korean border, which makes it a likely target should dictator Kim Jong Un decide to launch a surprise missile attack.
The mistake left service members on base running through hallways before they realized it was a false alarm.
US Army WTF! moments, a popular digital hangout for soldiers, posted a video it said came from a soldier at Camp Casey, The Washington Post reported, though Crighton said he couldn’t confirm the video was from Thursday.
Earlier this month, the North Koreans had given Team Trump until the end of the year to drop what it called its “hostile policy” and take a new stance in denuclearization talks that would include the easing of US sanctions — or face the North’s Christmas threat.
Another false alarm was heard in Japan, on Friday, when Japanese state broadcaster NHK erroneously reported that a North Korean missile had landed in the sea near the northern island of Hokkaido, Stars and Stripes reported.
A few minutes later the broadcaster issued a correction, stating that the report was a training text.
“At around 0:22 am on the 27th, we erroneously reported on the Internet that the missile in North Korea was estimated to have fallen to the sea about 2,000 km east of Cape Erimo, Hokkaido,” the broadcaster said in its correction.
The US has flown surveillance planes near North Korea in recent days in response to the North’s bellicose language.
And Trump has said the US was ready to deal with any actions the North could take — and even suggested that the gift could be a nice vase.