Evacuation ordermistakenly sent to Seoul residents after North Korea launched a military satellite, today sowed the panic in the South Korean capital and raised questions about the authorities’ ability to react in the event of an actual attack.

“Citizens, prepare to evacuate and let children and the elderly evacuate first”: that was the alarming message Seoul residents received at 06:41 am on their mobile phones.

The message did not specify what it meant alarm nor where the citizens should go. Seoul has long had a network of underground shelters, but they have never been used in a real emergency.

“Please note that the warning sent at 06:41 was issued in error”detailed a second message that Seoul residents received about 20 minutes after the first.

The incident sparked panic, with many residents of the South Korean capital expressing their anger on social media, with some calling for the city’s mayor to resign.

“I took my two young children to an underground car park as advised, I was in shock,” said a 37-year-old father. When he received the second message he was “speechless and angry”.

“The False Shepherd”

“Now, when there is a real alarm, no one will believe it. It will be like the fairy tale with the ‘false shepherd'”, he complained.

The warning was sent byafter the launch from North Korea of a spy satellite, which fell into the Yellow Sea due to a technical problem. But the South Korean military announced that this satellite never threatened Seoul and did not even pass over the city.

Seoul Mayor Sehun defended the sending of the warning, noting that local authorities “judged it necessary to take immediate action” after the satellite launch.

“It was probably an overreaction, but we can’t play with security issues,” he told a news conference, though he pledged to overhaul the city’s warning system to avoid any confusion in the future.

On the Internet many South Koreans expressed outrage at the fiasco. “We haven’t been told why we have to leave our homes or where to go,” tweeted user @duckdo_1226.

Another Seoul resident, @pedestrian_1234, said he panicked: “I almost passed out because the message was telling me to leave my house without really giving any necessary information.”

South Korea isofficially at war with North Korea as the 1950-53 war ended in an armistice and the two countries have not signed a peace treaty.

According to Minseon Koo, a political science researcher at Ohio State University, today’s blunder is a symptom of a chronic South Korean security problem.

“This mistake is unfortunate because South Korea was technically at war at the time. It brings to light a potential problem in civil defense which may cause real danger,” he explained. “We hope this incident will remind local and national authorities that a strong and credible civil defense is paramount.”

For Ankit Panda, another US-based Korea expert, there should be an investigation into this mistake.

“False alarms can be particularly dangerous in the event of a crisis, but at the same time they undermine the confidence of citizens in peacetime,” he stressed.