Old Kim Jong Un address miscaptioned as comments on Israel-Hamas war

"Kim Jong-un speech about Israel Palestine war," says text over an Instagram video shared October 16, 2023.

The English captions at the top of the clip say: "Under the Biden administration, conflicts erupt yearly. This year a war begins between Israel and Palestine, last year a war begins between Russia and Ukraine and two years ago billions worth of military equipment was left to the Taliban."

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken October 25, 2023

Other iterations of the video have spread on Facebook, TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I'm afraid that if the Biden admin does not cease to exist in the next election, World War 3 may begin. Who knows what next year's war will be," the captions go on to say. "I support Donald Trump for president in 2024. Good luck to Mr Trump."

The posts come more than a week after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel and carried out the deadliest attack since the country was created in 1948, killing at least 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel retaliated by declaring war on Hamas and relentlessly pounding Gaza in the deadliest bombing campaign of the territory since Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005. The Hamas-run health ministry said October 26 that at least 7,028 people had been killed in air strikes.

The conflict has sparked fears of a regional conflagration if it draws in more of Israel's enemies, such as Iran-backed Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There has also been a rise in attacks on Israel's top ally the United States, which has a vast network of military bases across the Middle East.

But the video circulating online does not show Kim blaming Biden for the war -- it predates the conflict and sports inaccurate captions.

AFP conducted a reverse image search and found the footage is from an October 10, 2020 military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, which multiple news outlets covered.

AFP's analysis of the event does not mention comments on conflicts in the Middle East, foreign wars or US presidential politics.

English transcripts from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), published by the media monitoring site KCNA Watch and the US-based National Committee on North Korea (archived here and here), also show the captions shared online do not line up with what Kim said in his speech.

"In an almost half-hour-long speech, Kim expressed his gratitude to the North Korean people for their trust in and support for the party, and for their trust in him personally especially during the challenging times of 2020," said the Open Nuclear Network (ONN), a nonprofit group aimed at reducing nuclear weapons risks, in an October 27, 2020 analysis of the address (archived here).

The report notes Kim spoke about the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters, as well as military issues -- "although comparatively briefly."

"The general tone of his message appeared to be domestic facing, addressing the state of internal affairs rather than global affairs," ONN said.

More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict is available here.