Seoul’s Mayor Claims Wartime Alert Was Not A Mistake — Netizens Blast City Official’s Explanation

Netizens are lambasting Seoul’s city officials as Koreans woke up to a harrowing evacuation alert that later turned out to have been false.

On May 31, Koreans in Seoul woke up to a wartime emergency alert asking citizens to evacuate.

[Seoul] At 6:32 am, an evacuation warning for the Seoul area has been launched. Citizens, prepare to evacuate and let the children and elderly evacuate first.

— Urgent Alert

22 minutes later, The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released an update, stating that the warning from Seoul was a false warning.

[Ministry of the Interior and Safety] The 6:41 am warning issued by the Seoul Metropolitan Government is a false order.

— Urgent Alert

Immediately after the revelation that the alarm was sounded by mistake, citizens demanded to know what had happened. Citizens also criticized the message because despite asking citizens to evacuate, the message didn’t specify as to where they should evacuate to.

• “I didn’t know what to do. Should I have gone to the subway station or not? The alert should tell us, at the very least, why we need to evacuate. F@cking idiots.”
• “Are they telling us that we are on our own? LOL. This government doesn’t do anything.”
• “F@cking idiotic. The message was sent to instill fear.”
• “F@cking idiots.”
• “F@cking idiots should have at least told us why we need to evacuate. They knew and didn’t tell us.”
• “They are telling us to fend for ourselves, lol. This country’s government is a joke.”

In response, government agencies have been pointing fingers at one another. Seoul’s city officials claimed that the alert was sent out in response to a request made by the Ministry of Interior Security, which then responded by saying that they had never made such a request.

미친새끼들. 누가 싸이렌 울렸는지도 모름. 이태원참사때랑 졸라 똑같아서 소오름.. pic.twitter.com/kl6M6LahcY

— 문소개웬 (@ia7h6eGzFoshms0) May 31, 2023

These crazy b@stards. No one knows who rang the sirens. I am getting chills because this reminds me of the Itaewon tragedy.

— @ia7h6egzfoshms0/Twitter

Seoul’s mayor, Oh Se Hoon, then remarkably did a 180 on his city’s stance and claimed that the alert wasn’t sent out by mistake and that rather than a mistake, it was an overreaction. When asked about accountability, the mayor then claimed that it was too early to be talking about accountability.

The emergency alert was an overreaction byi someone on site, but I don’t think it can be categorized as a mistake. If talks about accountability is brought up first, then the city’s workers might feel intimdated. Therefore, it is too early to talk about accountability.

— Oh Se Hoon

Netizens lambasted the mayor for his response, with many stating that the person who ultimately should be held accountable was him.

• “The person who is accountable is you, LOL.”
• “The message was sent out prematurely!”
• “The fact that he’s saying this means he has no hope.”
• “How about resigning while you’re at it.”
• “Resign.”
• “You are the person accountable, you!”
• “He’s so understanding. I guess they are allowed to make mistakes like this… F@ckers.”
• “Who are you going to hold accountable when you’re responsible for this?”
• “You should take responsibility. He is so detached from reality.”
• “You need to take responsibility. He’s f@cking spewing nonsense.”
• “Why aren’t you taking responsibility?”

This isn’t the first time the government’s response to a national incident drew ire from the country’s citizens. At the time of the Itaewon tragedy, the government was heavily criticized for its response.

What are your thoughts?

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