South Korea might be one of the most wired places in the world, but it’s not necessarily the most Internet friendly. Park Dae Sung, 31, an unemployed blogger now finds himself in hot water for allegedly being “Minerva,” a web guru who posted his thoughts on the state of the economy and the government’s economic policies. Those thoughts generated huge attention in Korea, particularly following Minerva’s prediction that Lehman Brothers would fail. Those musings, however, have not sat well with Seoul. Now Park has been taken into custody by the government and, according to his lawyer, faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for allegedly spreading false information with the intention of harming or threatening public interest. Late last week, Park was denied bail.
Found by Scott Diaz.
Must suck to live in a country without Freedom of Speech. Unfortunately, that pretty much includes the entire industrialized world except the U.S.
I rather wish the Koreans (our good buddies) would have cracked down sooner on this guy and his ilk. The entire financial meltdown probably could have been avoided.
Don’t we exercise any influence on Korea at all to stop this stuff?
#2 bobbo What do you mean crack down on this kind of stuff? All the guy did was look at the numbers, and speculate that Lehman Bros. was overextended and probably couldn’t survive. Peter Schiff did the same thing back in 2003 when he predicted the mortgage crisis. Would you suggest Peter Schiff should be imprisoned for being a better economist than Ben Bernanke?
You can’t seriously be suggesting that a blogger who makes an accurate analysis of the financial crisis somehow caused the crisis because of his analysis. Can you?
And South Korea is a sovereign independent nation. It may suck to live in a country without free speech protections, but the United States has no business telling other countries how to govern themselves. Isn’t that what’s gotten us into this mess for all these years?
“Fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none…” — Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address, 1801
Won’t be long before the same nonsense happens in the US and of course it’ll be “for the children.”
#3–Terry==when I was growing up I remember being told that “a billion chinese can’t be wrong–now eat your rice!” Chinese-Korean whats the difference?
No, people who irresponsibly drive down the “trust factor” of our economic system are the Bernie Madoffs who somehow have the image of being white knights of free expression.
This hateful and destructive attitude is being addressed at the edges. In the US you can be sued for “libeling” food products (Remember who got the Beef with Ophra?). This concept desperately needs to be applied to our financial system for even more important reasons. Think of the kiddies!!
#3, Terry,
And South Korea is a sovereign independent nation. It may suck to live in a country without free speech protections, but the United States has no business telling other countries how to govern themselves.
Then we are not obligated to trade with them or allow them access to our markets. Trading with closed societies demeans us all.
@bobbo
You need to use sarcasm tags because we can’t read your facial expressions.
#7–Improb==I can’t make it any heavier without risking a plagerism claim from the Repuglican Central Committee!
Terry, I’m with Bobbo on this. Have you heard of the Zen (or some other Asian stuff) that says that a butterflies wings starts a hurricane on the other side of the world. This is exactly how this financial crisis started. One blogger wings caused the Korean people to stop dealing the Lehman brothers, and the rest is history! We should expedite him to the States and hang him!!
True, but the closed society we choose not to trade with is North Korea, not South Korea.
Minerva’s “crime” was questioning the South Korean media’s biased coverage of the economy, which was simply repeating the government’s assurances year after year that everything was just peachy and there was nothing to worry about. This is the same kind of reaction Peter Schiff suffered five years ago when he was ridiculed on CNBC and MSNBC and Fox News after warning that Bear Stearns was in deep trouble and the entire banking system itself was likely to implode. It wasn’t his opinion or how he expressed it that caused the current economic crisis, it was the way these institutions were managing their assets. He just pointed out their problems before they publicly acknowledged them.
Now there’s a system Dick Cheney aspires the US to have.
You know … not quite fascist to cause a public stir. He wants just enough to stay below the majority of republican’s low threshold of freedom.
#9 Brian, I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that blaming the messenger for delivering bad news accomplishes anything. Remember that Minerva (who might be multiple bloggers, not just this one person) had been warning people that all was not well with the economy for several years.
And no, I don’t believe that a butterfly’s flapping wings had anything to do with the financial crisis. Butterflies don’t bank at my credit union. And, by the way, the butterfly wing hypothesis has nothing to do with zen or Asian philosopy; it was an analogy used to explain chaos theory (google Edward Lorenz). Come to think of it, though, chaos does kind of describe what’s going on in the financial markets these days!
Congressman Barney Frank (Chair of the House Banking Committee) called Alan Greenspan a “Chicken Little” in 2004 when he warned that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should not be permitted to increase their debt ratio, because they were already overextended way back then. Congress ignored his warnings and allowed both Fannie and Freddie to dig their graves even deeper.
#7 Improbus – Thanks for pointing out to me that bobbo may not have been serious in #2. I probably should have taken that possibility into account before responding.
#1 Paddy,
“Must suck to live in a country without Freedom of Speech.”
I bet everyone during the Bush administration who disagreed with the Republicans felt that way.
# 13 Angel H. Wong said, “I bet everyone during the Bush administration who disagreed with the Republicans felt that way.”
Really? How & when was the 1st Amend taken away from you. Details please.
Angel H. Wong said, “I bet everyone during the Bush administration who disagreed with the Republicans felt that way.”
# 14 Paddy-O said, “Really? How & when was the 1st Amend taken away from you. Details please.”
As I thought. Mindless trolling.
You know the other telling characteristic of the Korean near fascist profit oriented government?
They don’t have a sense of humor either.
These things tend to go hand-in-hand.
Is South Korea bi-polar?
Freedom of speach is for the rich and even Opra W. found out that saying bad things about beef isn’t safe.
I believe there is a British citizen facing 3+ years in prison in Thialand for writing negative things about the monarch of Thailand (a mostly ceremonial post). The guy self-published his book, printing 50 copies, sold 10.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
But, if you are predicting the end of the financial world what, exactly, is the prize?
#12, Terry,
Congressman Barney Frank (Chair of the House Banking Committee) called Alan Greenspan a “Chicken Little” in 2004 when he warned that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should not be permitted to increase their debt ratio, because they were already overextended way back then. Congress ignored his warnings and allowed both Fannie and Freddie to dig their graves even deeper.
Do you have any proof that Alan Greenspan said anything like that? Post a link quoting Frank calling Greenspan a “Chicken Little”.
I guess you forgot that Greenspan was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a Reagen appointment, and had nothing to do with oversight of the FMs, and, in 2004, Frank was not the Chairman of the House Banking Committee.
Why do people have to invent bullshit like this.