Ace Korean blogger on Economy thrown in jail

If as a blogger you could:

– predict the fall of Lehman brothers
– collapse of your country’s fast growing stock market
– accurately forecast a fall in the currency

AND

if every post of yours attracted roughly 100,000 readers… you would probably be a celebrity in the US.. or a normal country.  But heck, a blogger, who had learnt economics just reading some books and wrote a blog under a pseudonym “Minerva”, while giving amazingly accurate predictions is now behind bars!  In SOUTH KOREA!

Why?

Because Park Dae Sung Park had “accused bureaucrats of ordering banks to stop buying dollars while the won was falling during last December’s global economic crisis”.  He was arrested on Jan 10 for a posting on Dec 29 and another one in July 2008, where he has said that “Finance Ministry had suspended all foreign currency exchanges.”[1]

Now, that does seem like an utter blasphemy doesn’t it?

I am not sure how you look at it.. but if a Government is soooo sensitive about any negative views on anything on economy or its handling then things are even WORSE than they look… in fact a LOT WORSE!  Don’t you get that feeling?  Seoul is no Beijing or Islamabad.. it is fairly progressive and smart and a democracy…. so why go that way?

Well, officially his crime was “spreading false information with the intention of harming or threatening public interest”. [2] It was his OPINION (that’s what blogs ARE duh!!).. and if that is “Information” in Korean standards, then God save Seoul and its rulers!

Just FYI – South Korean currency fell 28% last year and the main share index dropped 40%!  This dude has to get a place on Obama’s cabinet!

Reference Links:

1. South Korean blogger faces trial for pessimistic financial forecasts
2. Seoul Cracks Down on an Internet Financial Guru