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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject: "Minerva" busted for being too truthful? |
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http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/01/08/62/0302000000AEN20090108007400315F.HTML
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(LEAD) Mystery online pundit taken into custody for spreading false rumors
SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Thursday they have taken into custody a man suspected of being the anonymous online pundit hailed for his biting criticism of the government's economic policy in the wake of the financial crisis.
The 30-year-old man, identified only by his surname Park, has allegedly posted some 100 economic reports and commentaries that he authored under the pseudonym "Minerva" on the country's No. 2 portal, Daum.
He was brought in late Wednesday on charges of spreading false rumors and is being questioned, according to officials at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. He reportedly admitted that he is Minerva.
Minerva has become a subject of hot debate among market watchers, with some describing him as a "prophet" after he accurately forecast the debacle of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which helped incite a global financial meltdown in September.
Park is accused of writing a groundless post in late December saying the government had sent memorandums to major financial institutions banning them from buying the U.S. dollar.
Park, who holds a degree from a local college but is unemployed according to the prosecution, claims to have gained insight through self-education. Many speculate that he has an academic degree from overseas, while others presume he has experience at financial institutions as an executive.
Given the far-reaching influence of his postings, Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han hinted during a parliamentary hearing in November that the government could launch an investigation if Minerva's actions are found unlawful.
[email protected] |
Gee... could you imagine the Korean government telling the banks not to buy US dollars? Koreans colluding on such a thing, sending secret letters about what to do in regards to foreign assets?
How absurd... 
Gosh forbid should anyone other than a politician, who has paved their way through money, family, and owing favors to big business, have any influence in this country.
In any other "advanced" country, this guy would have been written off as another guesser who got lucky once. In Korea, land of the easily-swayed paranoid jingoistic nationalist nerdizen, he has become "a prophet." |
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Typhoon
Joined: 29 May 2007
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| It sounds like he was hitting the nail right on the head. If he wasn't then the gov't wouldn't care what he said. Korea is the best country in the world. I don't care what any haters say. The corruption and backwardness that occurs here is just awesome. |
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aphase
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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I heard about this guy. Some adult students I teach are market analysts, and they were talking about how this guy made some very accurate predictions. I also heard one of his predictions was that the won will continue to go down and hit the 2,000 mark. I doubt it now, but I was worried for awhile (this was about a month ago when I heard this).
Funny that he's actually unemployed. My students speculated that he was working for another financial institution. |
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Gaber
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Maybe they're gonna force him to work for the central bank, or else go to jail. Sort of like a financial Dirty Dozen. That'd actually be a nice outcome for the guy. |
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justaguy
Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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I find that Koreans are far more likely than foreigners to believe something they read on the internet.
What makes this guy special?
I got a feeling that someone very powerful or very rich got burned by Minerva's advice. |
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aka Dave
Joined: 02 May 2008
Location: Down by the river
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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I just corrected an essay, literally 10 minutes ago, about this guy. It was in the context of Lee's proposal to allow the newspapers to buy up more of the broadcasting companies, allowing media consolidation. Needless to say, all my uni students strongly opposed it, and apparently it's not going to be passed in the near future.
One thing they did say was in the law, which to me sounded totally bizarre; they said that people could sue netizens if "their feeling were hurt" by comments that might even be true. I don't know if this insanity is true, but imagine the impact if Korean's started reading Dave's a lot. |
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Panda
Joined: 25 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| aka Dave wrote: |
One thing they did say was in the law, which to me sounded totally bizarre; they said that people could sue netizens if "their feeling were hurt" by comments that might even be true. I don't know if this insanity is true, but imagine the impact if Korean's started reading Dave's a lot. |
Time to back up all venom on Dave's..................is there a book called < the ugly Korean>? |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:24 am Post subject: |
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Maybe someone was feeding him inside information in an attempt to embarrass the administration.  |
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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:30 am Post subject: Re: "Minerva" busted for being too truthful? |
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Twice. At least.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12783609&source=hptextfeature
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Written by someone called �Minerva�, it predicted the imminent collapse of Lehman Brothers, a now-defunct investment bank.
Wild speculation is normally disregarded, but when it proved to be right just five days later, a prophet was born. Word raced through the �netizen� community, and when Minerva went on to predict that the Korean won would fall against the dollar by around 50 won a day in the first half of the week of October 6th, his followers began to watch the currency markets in anticipation. The won did indeed fall by about that much over the next three days. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| aka Dave wrote: |
I just corrected an essay, literally 10 minutes ago, about this guy. It was in the context of Lee's proposal to allow the newspapers to buy up more of the broadcasting companies, allowing media consolidation. Needless to say, all my uni students strongly opposed it, and apparently it's not going to be passed in the near future.
One thing they did say was in the law, which to me sounded totally bizarre; they said that people could sue netizens if "their feeling were hurt" by comments that might even be true. I don't know if this insanity is true, but imagine the impact if Korean's started reading Dave's a lot. |
I do know for certain now that "truth" is not an acceptable defence against libel in Korea. Not sure how that would change. |
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