Arctic Sea: the Crew's story

Hey, what will we use for a North Korean Flag?
The Sunday Times gives a full account of the story now told by the crew. The Korean ploy is explained as follows:
"The crew said that when the Ladny first made radio contact with the Arctic Sea , Savin sought to fool its Russian navy officers by claiming the ship was North Korean - the hijackers had also painted over Solchart’s emblem on the deck."

===>>> One could wonder about the Russian statement at the time that "Both the name and an identification number painted on the Arctic Sea's stern belong to a North Korean bulk carrier that was docked in Angola at the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, but it offered no further explanation."

And the pictures provided show lettering that is more likely naval than work of the Latvian bravos that boarded the vessel, a paint job by the Frigate's artful sailors.

And a final nagging detail. Note how the IMO number on the stern is not square with the rest: can you imagine a spook saying to the seamen - "no, no, go back and use the right number."

Arctic Sea: controversial and biased coverage

Captain of the MV Arctic Sea Sergei Zaretsky upon his arrival in Arkhangelsk airport November 2, 2009.
"I am happy to be back home," he told reporters. He criticized the media for controversial and biased coverage of the Arctic Sea incident, insisting that the ship carried a shipment of timber rather than an allegedly illegal cargo.

Earlier, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the Arctic Sea's captain had falsely claimed it was a North Korean ship.
The ministry said that, when the ship was intercepted, its captain claimed it was the North Korean vessel Chendin-2, and was headed from Havana to Sierra Leone with a cargo of palm wood.

Arctic Sea: Union pleads for those onboard

The Solchart site carries a plea said to be from a trade union
Four crew members – Master, Chief Engineer, Second Engineer and Bosun remain on board. Trade Union and relatives do not have connection with the remaining seafarers, and we are very concerned about the future of our brothers. Last week in the programme “Man and right” family saw Master Zaretskiy. He looked ill and exhausted.

Chendin 2 = Chon Ji 2=Nam Yang8?

typical of this length vessel

The closest match to Chendin 2 (the name used by the Arctic Sea when arrested) on the Lloyd’s Marine Intelligence Unit database is Chon Ji 2, which is 1979-built, 3,870 dwt and North Korea-flagged. Its International Maritime Organisation number is 8988129. Arctic Sea is Malta-flag, 1991-built, 4,706 dwt and bears the IMO number 8912792.

IMO Number: 8988129 Country: North Korea
MMSI Number: 445176000 Length: 101.0m
Callsign: HMYO2 Beam: 14.0m

Another North Korean ship built in 1979 and 101.0m in length is Nam Yang8:
Nam Yang8
Typ: Cargo Ship
IMO Number: 7913385 Country: North Korea
MMSI Number: 445251000 Length: 101.0m
Callsign: HMYM4 Beam: 16.0m

Why did North Korea tell the Russians (if they did) that Chendin 2 was in Angola, and is it>?