China bridge demolitions misrepresented in posts about N.Korea destroying links with South

Screenshot of the false X post, captured on October 24, 2024

The same video was also shared on TikTok and its Chinese version, Douyin.

It was shared after Pyongyang blew up roads and railways linking it to the South (archived link).

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the move was "an inevitable and legitimate measure" in keeping with North Korea's constitution, which "clearly defines the ROK (South Korea) as a hostile state".

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated since the North's leader Kim Jong Un defined Seoul as his country's "principal enemy" in January and said Pyongyang was no longer interested in reunification.

The video circulating online, however, does not show bridges blown up by North Korea; it shows controlled demolitions in China in September 2021 and July 2023.

Footage of North Korean soldiers blowing up roads linking the country to the South has been released by South Korea's military (archived link).

Jiangxi demolition

A reverse image search on Google and subsequent keyword searches found part of the falsely shared footage corresponds to a video uploaded on Douyin on July 19, 2024.

According to the Douyin video's caption, it shows the demolition of the Jishui Bridge in the city of Ji'an in central Jiangxi Province.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the of the video falsely shared on X (left) and the Douyin video shared in July 2024 (right):

The Douyin user, who lists themselves as located in Jiangxi, has frequently shared aerial footage of Ji'an City and a watermark -- the Chinese character for "cloud" -- can be seen in all their images.

The video (left) also corresponds to Google Maps' satellite imagery (right) of a bridge across the Ganjiang River in Ji'an (archived link):

The China Communications Construction Company, which conducted the demolition, also posted a video of the bridge being destroyed, as shown below: