Former Defense Ministry Spokesperson: "Disaster Alert False Alarm? Sending It Is Correct"

North Korea Launches Space Rocket on the Morning of the 31st
"Mistakes Were Made, but It's a Kind of Civil Defense Situation"

Kim Min-seok, director of the JoongAng Ilbo Military Security Research Institute and former spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said on the morning of the 31st regarding the false alarm text message sent to the Seoul area, "In my view, sending the text was appropriate," adding, "The confusion seems to have occurred because we have not trained enough for such situations."

On the same day, Kim appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and stated, "The projectile was launched from the Dongchang-ri missile site in North Korea toward the sea east of the Philippines," and "Considering the distance, it is far from Seoul, so the false alarm is in that context, but sending the alert text was not wrong at all."

When the host asked, "Does the false alarm mean you admit it was sent by mistake?" Kim replied, "Yes," but added, "It should have been issued along the coastal areas of the West Sea where the projectile passed." He continued, "Mistakes were made, but this is a kind of civil defense situation, and since we have never experienced this before, confusion occurred. Instead of blaming, it would be better to improve going forward," and emphasized, "We need to thoroughly review training, exercises, and manuals in the future."

On the 31st, citizens are watching related news in the Seoul Station waiting room, Jung-gu, Seoul, as North Korea launched a space launch vehicle southward. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

This alert is related to North Korea's space launch vehicle launch earlier that morning. The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced, "At around 6:29 a.m., North Korea launched what it claims to be a space launch vehicle from the Dongchang-ri area in North Pyongan Province toward the south, and we are analyzing detailed specifications such as the type and flight distance of the projectile."

Regarding this, Kim said, "What was launched is indeed, as North Korea claims, carrying a satellite or reconnaissance satellite," and analyzed, "North Korea may have verified other aspects of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology through this."

Although space launch vehicles carrying satellites and missiles are different, both are based on ballistic missile technology, so North Korea may have conducted this reconnaissance satellite launch with the intention of verifying missile performance.

Kim stated, "Our concern is that since North Korea launched a reconnaissance satellite, it could orbit over South Korean airspace to monitor us or identify our military units or critical facilities for use in a military attack," adding, "If they send unmanned aerial vehicles, we might respond as well, so it seems they launched it under the pretext of reconnaissance satellites or space development."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.