Remember Minerva? No? Remember the blogger, supposedly a 31-year-old who self-taught economics and predicted the collapse of Lehman Bros? OK…well, anyway, he could face up to 18 months in jail if the Korean prosecutors office has it its way.
Minerva’s (his real name Park Dae-sung) crime: “falsely reporting that South Korea had barred banks from purchasing US currency.” Apparently the blogger will find out his fate on April 20th for posting the “inaccurate” story, which the prosecutors claim undermined the country’s credibility. Read The Associated Press report here.
I have to say, Minerva was just another blogger. I surf and read numerous blogs daily, and I even have a blog of my own. Some blogs are better than others, and some are very insightful, of course, written by some of the most renowned experts in their fields, but we all know we can’t believe everything we read or see on the Internet. I’ve posted some analytical pieces on my blog before and I intend to continue to do so in the future. I also expect the blogs I read everyday to continue to provide me the valuable insights. So, what happens when some of us get it wrong one day? I wonder what the Internet police will do then. Though I figure the Internet police will probably let us be. After all, matters of regional security, such as North Korean long-range missile program or the continuous expansion of Chinese influnce throughout Asia, and things like terrorism or pirates on the high seas are not that important when compared to something that hits much closer to home…like...wallet and authority.
Now, I, of course, don't think Park is really the blogger Minerva, but that is a whole different story that requires much more time and much, much, much more alcohol before I even think about touching...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Minerva could do 18 months in prison
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Maybe you can clarify for me. What are the prosecutors trying to get out of arresting him? Wouldn't it do more damage to Korea's image to arrest a blogger who was just speaking his mind? I am appalled and disgusted, to tell you the truth. And how come you don't think Park is the real Minerva? Do you think there's a group of people?
In order to ensure regime survival, you can't have someone like "Minerva" running amok. It leads to things like freedom of expression and such....things that go directly against the concept of "regime survival." And when it comes to regime survival, image doesn't really matter. Also, when you have control of the media, then you wouldn't have to worry about bad images anyway.....