The Defense Ministry has determined that a succession of human errors was responsible for one of two false alarms stating that North Korea had launched a rocket last month, a day before the missile was actually fired, a copy of the ministry report obtained Thursday shows.
The report, concerning that warning issued shortly after noon on April 4, said even top Self-Defense Forces brass failed to corroborate the data from the U.S. early warning satellite — which Japan counts as its best source of launch information — before it got out, and called for more thorough verification of such alerts.
The erroneous data were quickly sent to local governments and media organizations across the country, deeply embarrassing the government and confusing the public, which was told throughout the day to be on high alert for falling debris, even though there was nothing that could realistically be done to avoid it and no other advice was given.