A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, claims to show North Korea bombing a U.S. oil tanker near Taiwan.

Breaking news 🇰🇵🇰🇵North Korea bombs USA 🇺🇸 Oil and gas tanker with the missile in the waters of Taiwan 🇹🇼 pic.twitter.com/64wQ3CdGli

— News magazine 🇩🇪🇺🇸🇪🇺🌍 Truth is hard (@CatCut1322947) January 13, 2024

Verdict: False

The video shows a rocket launch in the Yellow Sea. There is no evidence that North Korea bombed a U.S. oil tanker near Taiwan.

Fact Check:

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un said that the isolationist country would rewrite its constitution to state that South Korea was its number one enemy, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Social media users are sharing a video of a ship in the middle of the ocean, claiming it shows North Korea bombing a U.S. oil tanker. One social media user wrote, “Breaking news 🇰🇵🇰🇵North Korea bombs USA 🇺🇸 Oil and gas tanker with the missile in the waters of Taiwan.”

This video, however, does not show that. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video shows a rocket launch from China. The rocket launch takes place in the Yellow Sea, not the Taiwanese Strait. The video, published by Chinese state media outlet CGTN, claims to show China launching the “world’s first all-solid propellant rocket.”

“China on Thursday successfully launched the world’s first rocket powered completely by solid propellants,” the video description reads. (Did Pope Francis Say That Jesus Was Born During A Census Taken By King David?)

The launch was reported on by other outlets, such as the South China Morning Post. India Today also debunked this claim.