Seoul City takes flak for emergency text alert on NK's rocket launch

Emergency text alerts sent by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety are seen on a mobile phone of a citizen, Wednesday. The Seoul City's message in the bottom advises people to evacuate, while the ministry's message on top says the message sent by the city was a false alert. Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki

Citizens confused by different messages by city government, interior ministry

By Jun Ji-hye

Many Seoul residents were stunned Wednesday morning after receiving an emergency text alert sent by the Seoul Metropolitan Government advising them to prepare for evacuation.

The text alert was sent at 6:41 a.m., shortly after North Korea fired toward the south what it claims to be a space launch vehicle. But the message confused residents by simply telling them to prepare for evacuation, without explaining why and where they should go to seek refuge.

The country's largest online portal Naver's mobile webpage suffered a brief service disruption for about five minutes from 6:43 a.m. due to high user traffic as many people tried to use the website to obtain more information, according to Naver.

At 7:03 a.m., confusion turned into anger as another emergency text message was sent by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, saying the earlier one sent by the Seoul city government was a mistake.

At 7:25 a.m., the city government sent another text message advising Seoul residents to return to their normal lives as the alert was lifted in the entire capital area.

That did little to appease Seoul residents, many of whom were gripped by fear and confusion for about 40 minutes during the morning.

"I was in panic when I received the first text alert from the Seoul city government as there were no guidelines about how to evacuate," said Kim Sang-rok, 36, who runs a consulting company. "I felt more anxiety as Naver's service page did not open. This led me to even think that a war broke out."

He said he was very confused in the morning as he was not sure whether he had to go to work or pack a bag to evacuate.

Kang Hye-joo, a 33-year-old mother of two children in Seoul's Jungnang District, said she woke her children up and dressed them as soon as she received the text alert.

"After that, I looked out of the window to see what was going on, but it was quiet. I didn't know what to do next, while my children were crying after waking up," she said. "It was the worst morning ever."

People watch news about North Korea's attempted launch of what it claims to be a "space launch vehicle" at Seoul Station, Wednesday. Yonhap

On the Blind app, a communication platform for workers, screenshots were shared of a text alert sent by the Japanese government to people in Okinawa.

The screenshots showed that Japan's text alert was sent 10 minutes earlier than the one sent by the Seoul city government, but contained detailed information about why people have to evacuate and where they should go.

Amid growing controversy, the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol said the Seoul city government overreacted when it sent the evacuation alert.

Still, the interior ministry and the city government were busy blaming each other for the inconsistent emergency messages.

The interior ministry said it sent out an emergency alert to residents of Baengnyeong Island and Daecheong Island, near the Northern Limit Line separating the two Koreas on the West Sea, advising residents there to evacuate. Seoul was not affected by this alert.

"Both the interior ministry and local governments can send an emergency text alert. In today's case, we did not ask the Seoul city government to send such a message," a ministry official said.

The Seoul city government's explanation was different. It said it had received an instruction from the interior ministry to send the alert.

"We should send out the alert first before verifying the situation and lift it after everything is clear. This is the procedure in an emergency," an official at the city government said.

Later in the day, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon apologized for "causing confusion," but stressed that the city government's text alert "could be seen as an overreaction, but it was not false."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a media briefing at City Hall, Wednesday, apologizing for confusion caused by an emergency text alert sent by the city government in the morning after North Korea's launch of what it claims was a space launch vehicle. Yonhap

Meanwhile, the city's text alert led to the downsizing of an event hosted by the Ministry of Welfare and Health inviting five Pacific Island leaders and their spouses for a chance to experience South Korea's medical services.

The event was scaled down as a majority of the participants notified the ministry of their intention not to attend after they were shocked by the evacuation alert, according to insiders.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the projectile launched by the North fell into the West Sea following what was described as an "abnormal" flight.

Pyongyang also confirmed the failure, saying its new Chollima-1 rocket, carrying the Malligyong-1 military reconnaissance satellite, fell into the sea due to the "abnormal starting of the second-stage engine," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The KCNA added that the North will conduct a second launch as soon as possible.