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."
