A "false alarm" was published by Japanese newscaster, NHK, about N. Korean projectile test. (Image via Yahoo News)

NHK misreports N. Korean missile launch report

On Friday, Japanese public broadcaster, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), sent a news bulletin that North Korea (N. Korea) had launched a projectile that fell in the eastern part of the Japanese archipelago.

The news bulletin, titled “North Korean missile seen as having fallen into seas about 2,000 km east of Hokkaido's Cape Erimo”, was sent 22 minutes after midnight on its official website. About 2 a.m., NHK apologized to the Japanese viewers and public for the “false alarm”, saying that the news bulletin was meant for media training alert and clarifying the news as “untrue”.

As a publicly funded newscaster, NHK has to warn the Japanese citizens of natural disasters or any threats. Therefore, it regularly holds drills for natural disasters or national security threats coverage.

While the news bulletin was untrue, N. Korea once “did” launch a projectile that flew over Cape Erimo in 2017. The incident caused “J-Alert” on millions of cellphones that even jolted some Japanese from their slumbers.

It was not the first time for NHK. In January 2018, it also made a similarly false report.

The untrue news bulletin came after N. Korea stated that it had prepared a “Christmas gift” for the United States (U.S). The experts projected that it will be another projectile test. N. Korea gave the U.S the New Year’s Eve as the deadline to propose new concessions for the denuclearization and revitalization of the strained bilateral relations between the two countries.

Source: https://bit.ly/2SrqGN3