Online Guru Minerva Faces Arrest
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Prosecutors filed an arrest warrant Friday for the 30-year-old online economic pundit known as 'Minerva' for his alleged violation of information and telecommunication laws.
The action triggered debates on freedom of speech in cyber space and whether the person arrested was actually the anonymous online doomsayer on the Korean economy.
According to the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors' Office, the 30 year-old man, identified only as Park, was apprehended Wednesday. He had allegedly posted a number of articles on the Agora page of portal site www.daum.net, under the ID Minerva.
The prosecutors said Park admitted that he wrote stories and posted them in cyber space ― and claim they are based on ``groundless'' rumors.
Minerva made his name after predicting the fall of the Lehman Brothers and the plunge of the won against the dollar. Even Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said he would like to have a ``face-to-face, down-to-earth talk'' with him.
Plans to arrest Minerva drew keen interest from both domestic and international media Thursday after it was initially reported Park was being questioned.
The Marmot's Hole, one of the most popular blogs among expatriates in Korea, was also sizzling with the news.
``I wasn't aware that Minerva had said anything false. From what I've read his predictions all came true… Is the government going to accuse Minerva of causing the financial crisis?'' a poster known as ecorn said.
``He used neither private information nor classified governmental information to make predictions. The arrest is totally excessive and the Korean government's reputation will be damaged through it,'' Niels Footman, an editor working in Korea, said.
``If he doesn't have access to any secrets then why should the government care so much about a citizen?'' he said.
The Financial Times reported that an adviser to President Lee Myung-bak admitted that the government was trying to determine how to counter the influence of Internet chat-rooms in Korean society last month.
Reuters quoted a financial broker as saying Minerva had become influential enough to deter some investors from buying Korean shares while the government has turned increasingly sensitive to negative reports on the economy, one of the hardest hit in Asia by the global financial crisis.
Debate Over Arrest
The prosecution tried to make it clear that only part of the article that Minerva wrote would be subjected to prosecution. He made allegations that the government had requested financial firms and major corporations to stop purchasing dollars, Dec. 29. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance immediately denied the rumor.
However, many Internet users, or netizens, disagree with the prosecution.
``All he did was to simply express his opinion on the Internet without any political purpose and his writings attracted many people. Why is he guilty of disseminating false rumors?'' another poster said on the Agora page.
Others said the government is overreacting to a civilian's message. ``I am really ashamed to be a Korean at the moment. Why did the government rush to catch him? Did authorities really think that Minerva's words could provoke a coup or anything like that?'' another said.
But some have defended the prosecution. ``It is true that many Internet users followed his words as if they were all true. I think the government's reaction was to stop a civilian who doesn't really tell the truth,'' a poster known as Mirkophilipovic said.
Some netizens are holding online campaigns to call for the release of Minerva. On Agora's petition page, several are registered that ask the prosecution for his release. Already, more than 10,000 have signed up.
Though the prosecution focused on the Dec. 29 issue, many netizens claim that prosecutors have not sought legal action against government officials who have made wrong announcements or made false allegations.
``It hasn't been long since the government admitted to the fact that Korea is suffering from the global financial meltdown. It kept saying the economy is in good shape. Then shouldn't they be also punished for releasing false information?'' some said.
The Agora page has attracted a number of people who claim that the government is violating rights to expression and speech.
Athenticity of Minerva
But the biggest question surrounds whether the person apprehended is indeed Minerva. Last November, a Seoul business daily quoted a government insider as saying that Minerva is a man in his 50s, who has worked at financial firms. Monthly magazine ShinDonga, which published an article by Minerva, said the man was old and had an elevated level social status.
However, the man police took into custody is a man in 30s, who has no experience in financial firms, either at home or abroad. A graduate of a two-year technical college, his knowledge of the economy was self-taught.
Some question whether Park is really ``Minerva,'' the essential guru who overwhelmed numerous economic experts and astounded policymakers. The prosecution is investigating whether there are other people writing economic critiques under the same name.
Some suggested a conspiracy theory. ``The government isn't really after punishing Minerva, and is not really interested in who he really is. It is trying to warn people who write such stuff on the Internet."