WASHINGTON — Officials say a U.S. military base in South Korea accidentally blared an alert siren instead of a bugle call, causing a brief scare just as the U.S. and its allies are monitoring for signs of provocation from North Korea.
Pyongyang has warned it could send a "Christmas gift" to the United States over deadlocked nuclear negotiations. Public affairs officer Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton said in a statement that the mistake was "due to human error," CNN reported. Crighton said, "the operator immediately identified the mistake and alerted units on Camp Casey of the false alarm."
Someone commented about the incident on a US Army Reddit thread saying that the alarm "had guys running up and down the halls in full uniform."
The incident came a day before Japanese broadcaster NHK mistakenly sent a news alert that said North Korea fired a missile over Japan.