Photo/Illutration TV screens display J-Alert warnings at The Asahi Shimbun’s Tokyo headquarters on the morning of Oct. 4. (Takashi Ogawa)

A government spokesman apologized for confusion triggered by the country’s J-Alert national early warning system that was mistakenly sent to residents of far-flung islands south of Tokyo following a North Korean ballistic missile launch on Oct. 4.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the alert should have been issued for Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, but the alert was mistakenly sent to nine towns and villages in Tokyo’s Izu and Ogasawara islands as well.

“We apologize for causing concern to the residents,” Matsuno said at a news conference in the morning of Oct. 5.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a news conference later the same day that the erroneous warning was issued because information on the areas where the J-Alert was sent in a past evacuation drill had remained undeleted due to a system malfunction.

Seiji Kihara, another deputy chief Cabinet secretary, told a news conference on the morning of Oct. 6 the glitch that caused the problem was fixed by the end of Oct. 5.

J-Alerts are issued whenever a missile is launched that threatens to reach Japan’s territory or pass over the archipelago to warn the public of impending danger and urge them to evacuate to safety.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile at 7:22 a.m. on Oct. 4, according to Japanese government officials.

The missile flew over Aomori Prefecture and fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean, marking the first time in five years since the last such incident.

The J-Alert was issued to residents in Hokkaido and the Tokyo islands at 7:27 a.m. on Oct. 4. It was then updated to cover Aomori Prefecture, as well as the islands, at 7:29 a.m.

The missile passed over Aomori Prefecture between 7:28 a.m. and 7:29 p.m. just as the updated J-Alert was issued.

Lawmakers who attended a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Oct. 5 criticized the timing and accuracy of the J-Alert. Some clamored for urgent verification of the system.

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