Minerva case

The Minerva case (미네르바 사건) refers to the criminal case in which a blogger with an ID, Minerva, criticized the government economic policy on a debate plaza called "Agora" of Daum.net throughout 2008, and was accused and arrested by the public prosecutors in the early 2009.

Key words
Minerva, Agora plaza, false information, Constitutional complaint, unconstitutional

Time line of the case

 * In August, 2008: A blogger under the nickname of [ Minerva] predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
 * In late December 2008: Minerva posted an article that the government requested foreign exchange banks to stop buying US dollars, which put the foreign exchange market in panic.


 * On January 7, 2009: The Seoul Central Prosecutors Office arrested semi-economist Park Dae-sung under the pseudonym of Minerva on suspicion of disseminating fictious facts on the local foreign exchange market.
 * On January 10, 2009: A judge of the Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to put Mr. Park into custody in that the accused was proved to post some problematic articles on the Internet and his postings had seriously affected the foreign exchange market and Korea's sovereign risk.
 * On January 22, 2009: Seoul Central Prosecutors Office indicted Mr. Park on suspicion of violating the Framework Act on Electric Communications.


 * On January 28, 2009: The accused filed the Constitional Complaint with the Constitutional Court through Seoul Central District Court.
 * On March 12, 2009: The court rejected Park's request for bail because of runaway probability.
 * On April 13, 2009: The prosecutor demanded imprisonment up to one year and half.
 * On April 20, 2009: The court declared not guilty, but reject the Constitutional complaint. Mr. Park was acquitted.


 * On May 14, 2009: Mr. Park filed the second Constitutional complaint on the unconstitutionality of the statute at issue.
 * On December 28, 2010: The Constitutional Court held the provision unconstitutional.
 * On January 4, 2011: Seoul Central Prosecutors Office withdrew its appeal, and Mr. Park's innocence was confirmed. The case resulted in an acquittal.

On Illegality
On January 7, 2009, he was arrested by the public prosecutors under suspicion that he communicated false messages in public to damage the public interest via the Internet.

Later he was acquitted by the Seoul Central District Court because the accused did not intend to make false communications nor any intention to damage the public interest.

On Unconstitutionality
On December 28, 2010, the very statutory provision, under which the Minerva-like economist was accused, was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court (2009Hun-Ba88).

The Court said that such vague and abstract provisions cannot choke up the freedom of expression on the Internet.

Consequences
With the provision of the said Act at issue repealed, the freedom of expression has been highly improved. Until December 2010, Korean citizens could be criminally punished for leaving false information online.

On the otherhand, there are increasing concerns how to handle the prevalent dissemination of false information via the Internet and how to take an alternative legislation.

In July 2009, while the Minerva case was discussed in the Korean legal society, Inspector Muiko of Amnesty International said the Korean authority's indictment of Mr. Park, Minerva, and strict law enforcement were going too far.