EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on April 22)

End of comedy

The Seoul Central District Court's acquittal of Park Dae-sung, an internet
pundit, of the charges of spreading false information was by itself convicting
our society in general of its unbearable lightness. Judge Yoon Young-hyon's "not
guilty" verdict on Park was a stern warning to everyone, including bureaucrats,
academics and the local media, who entertained for months the wayward postings by
a 30-year-old self-trained freelance economic commentator.

The judge said the defendant, who was known by his internet ID, Minerva, was
innocent because he was not aware that his writings contained false information
at the time he posted them on a cyber forum operated by a major portal, and
second, he did not intend to harm public interest with his online contributions.
The ruling, extraordinarily lenient, even to the surprise of the defense,
strictly cautioned today's Koreans against their unrestrained and irresponsible
dependence on information flooding from cyber space.
Some must welcome the judgment for broadening the scope of the freedom of
expression in Korea online. But they need to know that the court effectively
awakened people to the question of how freely and easily facts and truths can be
mixed with half-truths and blatant lies in the name of that liberty.
Minerva's "prediction" of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers
last year first drew the attention of the huge internet population in Korea and
earned him instant attention as print and broadcast media widely quoted his
articles. The internet commentator was variously thought to be an economist with
Wall Street experience or a retired professor with a stint in the government,
although it was later discovered that he was a college dropout who wrote mainly
by reconstructing information gleaned from the internet.
Minerva became bolder and his articles contained harsh criticism of the
government's financial measures to protect the national economy against the
impact of the global economic crisis. Those who wanted to attack financial
authorities' latest countermeasures liberally took their cues from Minerva, who
by now was more revered than established economic columnists. In July last year,
he quite groundlessly forecast that the authorities would suspend foreign
currency exchanges from Aug. 1. His repeated forecasts of new crises in May and
November proved false.
On Dec. 29, his posting on portal Daum's online forum "Agora" claimed that the
government sent an emergency message to state-run corporations not to buy U.S.
dollars. Financial authorities were worried that this article caused widespread
dollar hoarding and the government was forced to hurriedly inject $2 billion into
the currency market to stabilize it. Investigators checked Minerva's identity and
arrested Park Dae-sung from his Seoul home in early January on charges of
violating the Basic Law on Electric Communication.
The prosecution which had demanded 18 months' imprisonment for Park indicated
that it would appeal the court ruling. However this particular case may finally
be settled, we can expect more Minervas on internet forums. The economy will
continue to be difficult and troubled investors, lenders, consumers and
manufacturers will lend their ears to whatever the online soothsayers have to
say.
The Minerva incident should hopefully have somewhat immunized the people against
the virus of false information. Yet, one good way of preventing such a bitter
comedy is for our government authorities to make better efforts to help people
become better informed of their policy measures and thereby earn greater public
trust.
(END)