Japanese TV sends mistaken alarm

TOKYO - The Japanese government called on public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday to make sure a false alarm warning of a missile launch of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will not be repeated, with tensions still high because of Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.

NHK issued an erroneous alarm on its website on Tuesday evening, saying Pyongyang appeared to have launched a missile and urging people to take shelter. A similar gaffe caused panic in the US island state of Hawaii at the weekend.

Japan's public broadcaster put out another message on its website within five minutes correcting itself and said no government warning, known as a "J-alert", had been issued. It was far faster than the nearly 40 minutes that lapsed before the Hawaii alert was withdrawn. The Hawaii agency has now changed its protocols to require that two people send an alert and made it easier to cancel a false alarm.