Prosecutors appeal acquittal of on-line pundit

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors on Friday filed an appeal against a court
ruling vindicating a controversial on-line pundit who was accused of spreading
misleading information about the country's economic policy, court officials said.

Park Dae-sung, 30, better known by his Internet alias "Minerva," was freed by a
Seoul court on Monday after having been indicted on charges of spreading on-line
rumors that the government ordered local banks not to buy U.S. dollars as part of
efforts to stabilize the local currency.
The prosecution claimed that the posting in December led to dollar hoarding,
forcing the government to hurriedly provide US$2 billion to stabilize the
currency market.
Officials at the Seoul Central District Court said they received the appeal from
prosecutors earlier in the day. The prosecution argued that the court erred in
its judgment and failed to apply the law properly by excluding objective evidence
in the deliberation process.
Minerva's sensational postings gained a massive following after he accurately
predicted the collapse of U.S. lending giant Lehman Brothers last year. He
followed up with a series of pieces criticizing the government's economic
policies that spread quickly through the Internet in one of the world's most
wired nations.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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