In the span of four days, the United States and Japan sent out separate warnings of the launching of a ballistic missile, urging citizens to seek shelter.
On Jan. 13 in Hawaii at 8:07 a.m., a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee sent out the following message: “Extreme Alert. BALLISTIC MISSLE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
This past Tuesday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK sent out the following message to Japanese citizens: “NHK news alert. North Korea likely to have launched missile. The government J alert: evacuate inside the building or underground.”
The timing of both alerts – which were both corrected as “false alarms” – within days of one another were highly suspect for many conspiracy theorists, who believe North Korea may have actually fired off missiles but that they were intercepted (or rather blown out of the sky) by respective United States and Japanese military at sea.
Interestingly, the U.S. and many of its allies met in Vancouver this week regarding North Korea and the use of nuclear weapons.
Where this conspiracy theory falls apart, however, is that North Korea itself is currently mocking the U.S. for having “nuclear phobia.” If North Korea saw that its missiles were blown out of the sky by the U.S. or Japan, they would surely speak out about it. Instead, here is what a state-run outlet published Friday: “Nuclear-phobia by the nuclei force of the DPRK has now caused a tragicomedy in the U.S.”
