False alarm text... "What about the kids' school?" Parents in confusion

Seoul Area Shaken by Alert Siren... Overlaps with School Preparation Time
"Causing Anxiety, How Can We Send Kids to School?"

Early in the morning, sirens sounded across the Seoul area, and a series of emergency disaster alert texts were mistakenly sent, causing a commotion. The confusion was especially heightened among parents with children attending school, as the alert coincided with the morning rush hour for commuting and preparing for school.

On the 31st, many Seoul-area mom cafes expressed relief mixed with anxiety over the alert messages that startled them early in the morning.

Earlier that day, Seoul City sent a text around 6:41 a.m. stating, "At 6:32 a.m. today, a warning alert was issued for the Seoul area. Citizens are advised to prepare for evacuation, prioritizing the evacuation of children and the elderly." However, just 20 minutes later, at about 7:03 a.m., the Ministry of the Interior and Safety corrected the message, stating, "The warning alert issued by Seoul Special City was a false alarm."

On the 31st, citizens in the waiting room of Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul, watched news related to North Korea's launch of a space rocket in the southern direction. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

A mom cafe user, A, said, "I had to wake up all the sleeping kids and prepare for evacuation; it was chaos," adding, "It was the first time I heard such a siren sound in my life. The beeping lasted so long it was scary," expressing her bewilderment. Another user, B, lamented, "How are we supposed to send the kids to school and go to work after being made this anxious?"

User C from the mom cafe, who experienced confusion until receiving the correction text from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety 20 minutes later, complained, "They suddenly told us to evacuate children and the elderly first, and now they say it was a false alarm," adding, "I was confused about whether to send the kids to school, contact my workplace, or pack my belongings."

Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced at 6:32 a.m. that "North Korea launched what it claims to be a space launch vehicle in the southern direction," and that they are currently analyzing the exact specifications of the launched object.

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