Theory 3: neither zimbabwe nor north korea are on the Strait of Malacca.

Malacca was just behind the Strait of Hormuz for oil transit in 2015:

https://i.insider.com/551b00ef6da8112c6484d430?width=1300&fo...

and it is strategically located in between Hormuz and Shandong:

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/gjnvwxywkpw/ChinaOi... (July 2020)

Exercise for the reader: locate the paracels and spratlys. (S'pore would be just off the bottom, on the left, lah.)

Crude Rules Everything Around Me.