Minerva (Internet celebrity)

Minerva expressed concerns over the planned takeover of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. by the Korean Development Bank (KDB). This was well before the financial instability of the US investment bank was known to the public.

There are many doubts and criticisms surrounding the arrest. For example, the law (Electronic Communication Fundamental Law, Korean: 전기통신기본법; Hanja: 電氣通信基本法) Minerva is known to have violated is possibly unconstitutional.

A person spreading a false rumor maliciously intending to damage the public interest by using an electronic machine can be sentenced to imprisonment for under five years or given a fine of under 50,000,000 won

— Electronic Communication Fundamental Law Article 47 Clause 1, Republic of Korea

Minbyun, Korean Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Korean: 민주사회를위한변호사모임) argued that though it is about the criminal penalty, the clause is vague, which is against the Law of Clearance, meaning that the law about crime must be clearly declared for people to understand it, derived from Nulla poena sine lege, thus this clause is probably unconstitutional.[6] And Korea University Lawschool Professor Park Kyung-Sin said "The most effective way to oppose rumors, which seem false, is not punishment to the speaker, but ensurance of the freedom of expression."[7]

Many people doubt whether the writings of Minerva are obviously false. There is evidence indicating that the government did control the exchange rate.

Lee Seok-Hyeon, a congressman of Democratic Party, argued that the government actually did request banks to restrain from buying dollars. According to him, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance called staff members of the seven main banks into a meeting at the Korea Federation of Banks in Myeong-dong on December 26, 2008. In the meeting, the authority asked them for self-restraint in purchasing dollars. Lee Seok-Hyeon said he heard this directly from a man who was at the meeting.[8]

Foreign bloggers writing about Korea have cast doubt about the government's handling of the opinionated blogger. Some express concerns that this would mean demise of freedom of speech in Korea.[1][9]

On November 11, 2008, Maeil Business Newspaper quoted a government intelligence source on the identity of Minerva. The intelligence representative has been quoted as saying that "the government needed to provide Minerva with correct information and statistics" as the reason for looking up his identity. The source said Minerva is an individual in early 50s who has worked overseas in the stock market business. Minerva subsequently announced that he will no longer post anything on the economy saying that "the country ordered silence".

There has been a Daum Agora poster claiming to be a distant acquaintance of Minerva's. The reference "Minerva K" comes from his posting, where "K" is an alphabetical equivalent of a binary ASCII code Minerva has left in one of his postings. Readme's posting made a wave when he asserted that Minerva is a well-known and influential figure in the South Korean financial circles.

Shin DongA (Korean: 신동아), a current event magazine of the DongA Ilbo newspaper published two articles from the purported Minerva. In the first article Minerva summarized his previous postings in Daum Agora. In the second article, following the arrest of Park, he claims "Minerva" is in fact a small group of people in the financial business who are concerned with the nation's economy. Shin DongA's Minerva claimed that Park has been unknown to his group and discredited Park, saying that he revealed serious lack of basic knowledge.

Although the reference to "K" gets reiterated in Shin DongA's articles, readme retorted their version Minerva is a pure fiction. Park, the arrestee, stated he never wrote for Shin DongA. The prosecutors, however, announced that they have no plan to investigate Shin DongA's "Minerva K".

On February 17, 2009, the DongA Ilbo published an apology saying that their Minerva K was not the famous Daum Agora writer and the details are still under investigation.

All postings by Minerva come from two IP addresses and a single log-on ID. The prosecutors say they can single out only one person that matches this criterion. Shortly after the arrest, the prosecutors let Park write a short essay on this year's economic perspective. He produced a one-page report which the prosecutors found professionally written. Others pointed out a number of faults in basic knowledge and lack of style. Particularly erroneous was his observation on the growth rate of the Chinese economy, which he expected to become negative in 2009.

The prosecutors also tested Park's knowledge by asking a handful of financial jargons he has used in his postings: 1) Tobin's q, 2) BDI and freight rates, 3) the LTCM crisis in 1998, 4) spread, 5) offshore NDF market, and 6) trickle down. According to the prosecutors, he did not remember Tobin's q but answered to most of questions. He was able to provide lengthy answers to questions 2 and 3.

In February 2009, South Korea's TV broadcaster SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) has aired an investigative special on Minerva. They gave Park a written test similar to the prosecutors'. The questions were: 1) dynamic hedging, 2) yen carry trade and cross trade, 3) BDI and freight rates, 4) spread (between onshore and) offshore NDF markets, 5) 01001011, a binary code he left in a posting on his identity in November 2008. Park only answered to questions 3) and 4) in an unsatisfactory way, according to a commentator Damdamdangdang (Korean: 담담당당) in Daum Agora. In the show, SBS concluded nonetheless that Park is the true Minerva.