North Korea may have spent Saturday toying with a jumpy Japan over its plan to send a rocket over the Tohoku region, but it managed to cause a meteoric embarrassment to Tokyo — twice — without ever pushing the launch button.
In two false alarms hours apart that Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada called "inexcusable," the Self Defense Forces wrongfully alerted the public that North Korea had launched a rocket from the Musudan-ri launchpad. The ministry retracted both announcements, blaming them on computer glitches and communications blunders. The latter one went nationwide.
"We apologize for the confusion caused by the false alarms," Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters Saturday. He also revealed that Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told the ministry to be more careful in handling information.