A U.S. military base near North Korea accidentally blared an emergency siren on Thursday meant to signal an imminent attack.
“Human error” resulted in the false alarm throwing Camp Casey, a U.S. Army base in South Korea, into high alert for a few moments before the mistake could be cleared up, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton told the Greenwich Time.
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A video posted by U.S Army WTF! Moments claimed to show the siren wailing at 10 p.m. instead of the usual taps bugle call played to mark the end of the day on the base. The video’s authenticity could not be verified.
Camp Casey, South Korea just hit the Go To War sirens on accident instead of TAPS. I’m sure someone’s chapter packet’s already up at BDE now. pic.twitter.com/QyZittRsbL
— U.S Army WTF! Moments (@TheWTFNation) December 26, 2019
U.S.-North Korea tensions heightened over the holiday season after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised the United States a “Christmas gift” in early December. The “gift” was thought to be a missile attack or test potentially involving a nuclear weapon.
President Trump dismissed Kim’s threat while talking to reporters at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, on Christmas Eve.
“We’ll find out what the surprise is, and we’ll deal with it very successfully,” Trump said.
The Camp Casey mistake mirrored a false alarm of a nuclear strike sent out to people in Hawaii in January 2018. Hawaiian officials were attempting to test their mass notification system but accidentally sent an alarm notification to everyone living in the state.
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