“If It Were the Real Thing, We Would All Have Died” Early Morning Chaos Triggered by a Mis-issued Alert

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea launched what it claims to be a space rocket toward the south from Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province at around 6:29 a.m. May 31. On Wednesday morning, as a news flash on the launch is aired on the television in the Seoul Station waiting room, students leaving for a school trip check their cell phones after alarms go off notifying them of an emergency disaster alert. Yonhap News

An alert mistakenly issued by the Seoul metropolitan government shook the capital city on the morning of May 31. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety negated the alert issued by Seoul with an emergency disaster alert, and the Seoul government informed citizens that the alert was lifted with yet another disaster alert, forcing the cell phones of Seoul citizens to ring three times. The citizens expressed their irritation at the fiasco that disturbed their morning commute caused by the unsynchronized actions of government agencies, alerts with no specific information, and the casual approach to lifting alerts, authorities brushing them away as if they were insignificant.

At 6:32 a.m. Wednesday, the Seoul metropolitan government sent an emergency disaster message, “An alert issued in Seoul. Citizens prepare to evacuate and help children and the elderly evacuate first.” But according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the alert was supposed to be issued only in the Baengnyeong and Daecheong area due to the North Korean rocket launch. It was issued in Seoul due to an administrative error.

The alert put Seoul citizens into chaos. Gim (28), who resides in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, described, “We were busy asking each other on KakaoTalk because there was no information on where we were to evacuate to and whether we were to move immediately,” and said, “If this was the real thing, we would all have died panicking.” Right after the alert was issued, Gim tried to search for shelters and evacuation guidelines on Naver, but he couldn’t because the server was temporarily down. The interior ministry’s Safety Steppingstone application did not function properly either due to the sudden surge in users. It was impossible to check the location of shelters. Gim said, “It was an unsettling and absurd experience.”

Some people were frustrated after they tried to evacuate. Chae (26) had slept with the window open and was awakened by the sound of a siren. Surprised at the civil defense announcement to “evacuate,” he rushed to pack a bag with water and external batteries. The first thought that passed his mind after receiving the text message was, “Where am I supposed to go?” Chae said, “Should I run to a shelter nearby? Where is the shelter? All sorts of thoughts passed my mind when they said it was a mistake. I barely managed to calm down after thinking all kinds of things this morning.”

There was also a fiasco on public transportation during the morning commute. Jeon (35), who was on the subway when he received the alert from the Seoul metropolitan government, said the people who checked their phones after receiving the alert stared at each other not knowing what to do. He said, “It said children and the elderly first, so the elderly who had a hard time walking hurried to get off the subway.” He added, “Some even ran searching for a shelter.” Some of the senior citizens who lived alone hurried to pack their bags and went to the subway stations nearby, surprised at the alert.

The Gyeonggi-do residents commuting to Seoul also greeted a nervous morning. Choi (35), who heard about the alert issued by the city of Seoul, called the office to ask whether he was to go to work. He was met with a snub to “evacuate to the office.” Choi said, “I was already upset since I didn’t receive the message just because I lived in Gyeonggi-do. Then I was embarrassed when they told me to get to work. But then they said it was a mistake, so I was irritated.”

People also complained on social media. One member of an online community wrote, “If a war breaks out, then we’ll all end up dead just looking around after receiving a disaster alert like this,” and added, “It’ll all end with us just trembling without any information or training.” “They only created fear with a meaningless warning to evacuate. Besides, the city of Seoul and the interior ministry were not in sync, either. I wonder if they could really be this incompetent. Isn’t this fatal to public safety?” This tweet on Twitter was retweeted over 1,500 times. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the keywords trending on Twitter were “alert,” “mis-issued text,” and “mis-issued ###.”

Some people pointed out that the mistaken warning issued by Seoul and negated by the interior ministry could weaken the citizens’ vigilance. Gim Jeong-won (26), a college student, said, “If they keep issuing fake alerts like this, then I think we’ll believe the alerts were mis-issued even in a real situation,” and compared it to the boy who cried wolf. Bak (27) said, “Even if a war really breaks out, I don’t think I’ll believe it. I’ll just think that it’s probably a mistake like the last time.”

On social media, other people wrote that they went back to sleep after receiving the alerts. Some people even accused the government of trying to create fear with the alert. When the city lifted its alert, it informed citizens, “The emergency text was sent due to North Korea’s missile launch.”

An official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained, “There are a lot of shelters in the local areas, so it is difficult to send a customized alert with information on all the shelters,” and said, “The alert was issued to tell people to get ready to evacuate since the situation was urgent.” As for the criticism that the message had little information, the official explained that the government was making sure people were familiar with the process through training during normal times, and added, “They can check the shelter locations on the application.”