Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura assured the public Saturday that there was little chance that part of the rocket North Korean plans to send over the country will actually fall on Japanese soil.
"The government thinks there is very little possibility of something falling on Japan, so, as I have said before, we would like the public to go on with their daily lives," Kawamura said, adding, however, that the government is prepared for anything.
He said the government will continue to stay on top of the situation and keep the public informed.
Kawamura apologized, however, for the government's setting off a false alarm and said the incident was being investigated.
"We are still trying to confirm the cause and details," he said. "But as a result, we ended up sending out wrong information and I would like to straightforwardly apologize for raising concern among the public."
Kawamura explained that the prime minister's office released the announcement of the launch that had arrived from the Defense Ministry, noting there is no current plan to rethink the information disclosure procedure.
"Our job was to release the information we received to the public as soon as possible," he said. "As of right now, we would like everyone to continue following the manual."