Records on North Korean ship docked in Syria were altered - Haaretz

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Mon., October 08, 2007 ,

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Last update - 09:30 16/09/2007

Records on North Korean ship docked in Syria were altered

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Online databases tracking a ship reportedly flying a North Korean flag that docked in Syria have changed their records following a report in The Washington Post linking the alleged Israeli air strike in Syria to a North Korean shipment.

Ronen Solomon, who searches information in the public domain for companies, told Haaretz he found references to a ship called Al Hamad on three different Web sites after the initial reports of the Israeli raid in Syria on September 6. These included the official sites of Syria's Tartous Port and the Egyptian Transportation Ministry.

Two of the three sites said the ship was flying a North Korean flag, and the third site reported it was flying a South Korean flag.

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Haaretz confirmed Solomon's report.

Saturday, the Washington Post published an article citing an American Mideast expert, who said a shipment that arrived in Syria three days before the alleged Israel Air Forces strike was labeled as cement, but that Israel believed it carried nuclear equipment.

Following the Washington Post report, Solomon returned to the three sites, and discovered that all mentions of the North Korean flag on Al Hamad had been deleted, and that the ship's flag was now registered as 'unknown.'

The official site of Syria's Tartous Port, www.tartousport.com, had reported that Al Hamad, flying a North Korean flag and carrying cement, entered the port on September 3. Solomon stressed that several North Korean ships docked at Tartous during August.

Syria said IAF planes entered its airspace on September 5.

According to the site, the ship had passed through Tripoli port in Lebanon, Solomon said.

He then found a site, www.e-ships.net, that said Al Hamad was registered as a 1,700-ton ship intended for general cargo and flying a North Korean flag. The ship had been built in 1965 and had had several owners, according to the site.

In addition, Solomon found on the Web site of Egypt's Transportation Ministry, www.MTS.gov.eg, a record that Al Hamad had docked in Damietta Port Said in the Nile Delta about a month earlier, on July 28. However, this site registered the ship as flying a South Korean flag.

Haaretz was able to access the Tartous Port Internet site until Saturday afternoon, after which it went offline for several hours

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1.	The plot thickens	07:03	\|	RA	16/09/07

2.	ha ha ha ....another arab trap	07:15	\|	Marcel	16/09/07

3.	Syria and her friends are bellicose liars.	07:18	\|	Theodor	16/09/07

4.	You mean Syria was lying???	08:27	\|	B`galil	16/09/07

5.	korean mystery ship	08:47	\|	Mark Katzman	16/09/07

6.	#1, B`galil...	09:30	\|	Silvienne	16/09/07

7.	If you cannot handle the truth, you just delete it	09:34	\|	S	16/09/07

8.	A RECORD THAT NEVER EXISTED	09:44	\|	indrajaya	16/09/07

9.	CAPTURE DAMASCUS,INVADE SYRIA,ANNUL TREAT)))))))))))	09:44	\|	VOICE of MOSHIACH)))	16/09/07

10.	very strange how amateurish the records are usually altered befor	09:46	\|	victor hardman	16/09/07

11.	Who stands to gain the most?	10:06	\|	Adrian de Klerk	16/09/07

12.	Syria, islamists pawned, feel it indrajaya?	10:48	\|	Johnny	16/09/07

13.	US Navy ,CIA,NSA ,whatever, as inept as before the 9/11	10:51	\|	Absolute Sweden	16/09/07

14.	I`m shocked I tell you SHOCKED. Shameful	11:17	\|	Jasmine Murphy	16/09/07

15.	It says that it was South Korean in Egypt one month earlier	12:12	\|	Eyal	16/09/07

16.	Mistery Ship	13:03	\|	Chris	16/09/07

17.	A rather `strange story indeed......	14:57	\|	Dagma	16/09/07

18.	tartous	04:09	\|	paul	18/09/07

19.	Liars are always weak	04:13	\|	paul	18/09/07

20.	Provacation of war	09:08	\|	Jason Webb	18/09/07

21.	That ships name	19:33	\|	Paul	18/09/07

22.	I doubt it`s S.Korean	19:35	\|	Paul	18/09/07

23.	Something fishy here!	22:25	\|	blowback	03/10/07

24.	isca	17:39	\|	North Korean ship...	07/10/07

25.	North Korean Nukes Don`t Work	16:12	\|	Angel Elf	08/10/07

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