S.Korean government says that they are protecting people on the internet from propagationg falsehood.

South Korea has been abuzz with prosecuting bloggers criticizing the government and blocking online discussion forums alleging that the government misconducts on the economy.

Disgracefully, South Korea is one of the very few countries or could be the only one democratic country that prosecutes bloggers and imposes criminal penalties for “propagating falsehood” on the internet.

 The most disgraceful behavior by the Korean government is arresting the financial blogger going by Minerva earlier for spreading “false” rumors of economic collapse.  He made correct financial predictions and proved a severe irritant to South Korean government such as the Korean won’s sharp decline against the American dollar, and heaped scorn on President Lee Myung-bak and his finance minister, Kang Man-soo, for their handling of the economic crisis.

Find more information of Minerva story ->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jyCa6oHYm8

The goverment claimed that he made a fase prediction; however, we all know, his charged was based on what the relevant government officials think is true or false and usually biased towards whoever has more power.

As a result, the government has faced a long struggle to prove themselves right, but could not find enough evidence to prove what Minerva had done wrong, but succeeded to put him in jail for “Libel”. South Korea government might have known that the Minerva case was not legally punishable, but wanted to silence people by showing how they could be punished if they embarrass the government.

American lawyer, Brendon Carr, said that “The story on Minerva is [that] Korea is a democratic state with certain fascist impulses, the basic complaint is that Korea has a high-handed, undemocratic government.”

 Major newspapers had headlines after Minerva had arrested that “All were deceived by false Nostradamus” since he is a junior college graduate with no professional credentials. Ok, then shame on you “smart people” including the finance minister and Ivy League graduates in Ministry of Finance and Economy and send Minerva at The Economist, Quick.

References

1. Kirk, Donald (2009) “Financial blogger’s arrest tests Korea’s progress on human rights”  [accessed 2 April, 2010] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2009/0127/p04s02-wosc.html

2. WangKon936 ( 2009) “Minerva, the Unlikely Economic “Prophet”” [accessed 2 April, 2010]  http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/01/24/minerva-the-unlikely-economic-prophet/

Tags: Propagationg falsehood