A pair of radio stations in Guam simultaneously started an unscheduled test of the Emergency Alert Broadcast System late Tuesday evening, prompting some of the island’s 160,000 residents to worry North Korea had launched a missile toward the U.S. territory.
KTWG and KSTO accidentally issued a “civil danger warning” for the entire Pacific island.
“The unauthorized test was NOT connected to any emergency, threat or warning,” the agency said in a Facebook post. “GHS/OCD has worked with (the stations) to ensure the human error will not occur again. There is no scheduled test of the EAS or All Hazards Alert Warning System sirens today.”
“Residents and visitors are reminded to remain calm, even with the continued unconfirmed reports throughout the media,” George Charfauros, Guam homeland security adviser, said in a statement. “Remember there is no change in threat level, we continue business as usual and know there are U.S. Department of Defense capabilities in place. We continue communication with our federal and military partners and have not received official statement warranting any concern for imminent threat to Guam or the Marianas.”
North Korea was reported Thursday to have outlined a plan to simultaneously launch four ballistic missiles toward Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean that is home to a major military base.
But on Monday night, the country indicated it was not prepared to act on the plan.
