US base in South Korea accidentally sounds emergency siren instead of taps: report

Officials confirmed that a U.S. Army base in South Korea accidentally blasted an emergency siren Thursday night instead of playing taps, The Washington Post reported.

Taps was supposed to play on Camp Casey’s announcement system at 10 p.m. Thursday, as is traditional at the end of the day on Army installations and during military funerals, Army Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division, confirmed to the outlet.

But an emergency siren blared instead due to “human error,” Crighton said. Camp Casey is the closest Army base to the North Korean border, and a likely target in the event of an attack. 

U.S. service members began posting on a Reddit thread and sharing the siren online, the Post reported. Crighton could not confirm that a post on U.S. Army WTF! Moment, a popular platform for soldiers, was from the Thursday incident.

Camp Casey, South Korea just hit the Go To War sirens on accident instead of TAPS. I’m sure someone’s chapter packet’s already up at BDE now. pic.twitter.com/QyZittRsbL

— U.S Army WTF! Moments (@TheWTFNation) December 26, 2019

The siren is used to warn soldiers to begin “alert procedures.” Soldiers at the base were immediately notified of the mistake, and Crighton confirmed that control measures were put in place to make sure it does not happen again at Camp Casey. 

The mistake drew comparisons to a 2018 incident in which an operator at the emergency management agency in Hawaii accidentally alerted the state that a nuclear missile strike was impending.

Earlier this month, a statement carried by North Korean state media threatened that the U.S. could expect a “Christmas gift” over stalled nuclear talks. U.S. officials are on high alert through New Year’s Day over the threat.

The Hill has reached out to the U.S. Army for comment.