A U.S. Army base in South Korea accidentally sounded an emergency siren Thursday night, amid tensions over North Korea's threat of a "Christmas gift" to the U.S.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the siren went off around 10 p.m. at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, instead of the usual bugle call played on military bases to mark the end of the day.
 
The incident was quickly found to be a false alarm but not before putting some soldiers through panic and then a sigh of relief.

Army Lieutenant Colonel Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division, was quoted as saying that “human error” prompted the sounds of an emergency siren. 

He said the siren would normally warn soldiers to begin "alert procedures." 

CNN also cited Crighton as saying that the operator immediately identified the mistake and alerted units on Camp Casey of the false alarm. 

Christmas passed with no so-called "gift" from North Korea but South Korea and the U.S. had remained on high alert for a possible provocation from Pyongyang.

The Washington Post noted that Camp Casey is the closest U.S. Army base to the North Korean border and a likely prime target for missile strikes in the event of an attack.