A senior presidential adviser said Friday that reports of a South Korean killed in an ambush in Iraq days earlier may have been fabricated.

National Security Adviser Ra Jong-yil told reporters at Cheong Wa Dae that the report appears not to be true.

Ra voiced doubts that the incident had taken place because the source of the original report had changed his account a number of times. Ra said that, among other things, the source first said the vehicle involved in the incident was a Kia Motor vehicle and then later changed it to a Toyota.

Ra also pointed out that the informant had changed his statement concerning the identity of the victim several times, first saying he was a South Korean before changing the phrase to "an Asian man" and then reversing the statement once again.

Ra said that Seoul therefore doubts the existence of the incident itself.

In Baghdad, South Korean diplomats said they were continuing efforts to confirm whether or not a South Korean man had indeed been killed in an ambush in southern Iraq.