Financial blogger arrested in South Korea
금융에 대해 글을 쓰던 한국의 블로거가 체포되었다.
By Christian Oliver in Seoul

Published: January 8 2009 17:54 | Last updated: January 8 2009 17:54

South Korea said on Thursday it had arrested an elusive blogger accused of undermining the country’s financial markets with his doom-mongering, ending a case that has illustrated government unease with the growing influence of online ­gossip in the world’s most-wired economy.
자국 경제에 대해 비관적인 게시물을 올리던 블로거가 체포되었다.

The case comes amid government efforts to combat negative comments on South Korea’s ailing economy in the media and from private sector economists. The export-dependent economy has been among the hardest hit in Asia by the global financial crisis.
이번 사건은 정부가 취약한 경제를 비판하는 의견들과 전쟁을 벌이겠다는 의지를 드러낸 것이다.

The arrest and possible imprisonment of a web commentator will raise profound questions about freedom of speech in Korea, where bills that would crack down on civil rights are stirring tensions between lawmakers.
정부가 그를 체포하면서 언론의 자유를 놓고 논쟁이 벌어질 것이다.

“Minerva”, who was arrested on Wednesday, has become a celebrated online guru in South Korea during the crisis. He gained instant kudos for what were seen as uncannily accurate utterances on the fall of Lehman Brothers and the crash of the Korean won, which plunged 26 per cent against the dollar last year.
미네르바는 리만의 추락과 한국 원화의 가치하락을 예측하면서 인터넷 상의 선지자로 떠올랐다.

Although some had speculated he might be a civil servant or even a market insider, authorities said Minerva was an unemployed university graduate without any substantial expertise in economics. Prosecutors declined to disclose his name, saying only that his surname was Park, the Korean equivalent of “Jones”.
그가 시장전문가일 것이다는 예측이 있었으나 조사결과 무직인 것으로 드러났다.

Government officials were incensed by an incorrect article Minerva wrote claiming they had ordered financial institutions to stop buying dollars. Authorities have said they are considering charging him with spreading false information.
정부는 미네르바가 거짓정보를 흘렸다고 보고 체포했다.

The court will decide on Friday what formal charges he could face. If found guilty of contravening Korea’s communications law, which bans the spreading of false information online, he could face seven years in jail.
법원의 판결에 따라 그는 최대 7년을 감옥에서 보내야 할 수도 있다.

The Korean government’s panic over Minerva and other web-based rumour-mongers reflects a greater concern about the political role of the internet in South Korea, the country with the world’s greatest per capita access to cyberspace.
인터넷이 가장 널리 퍼진 한국에서 인터넷상 정치의사표현은 어려워 질 수 있다.

An adviser to President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative former businessman, admitted to the Financial Times last month the government was trying to determine how to counter the influence of internet chat-rooms in Korean society, famed for its fiery temper.
이명박대통령의 측근은 인터넷의 영향력을 제한하기 위해 노력하고 있다고 말했다.

Mr Lee was shaken last year by street protests over imports of US beef. The government had been unprepared for the degree to which passions could be inflamed in chat-rooms and mass demonstrations orchestrated online within hours.
지난 광우병사건으로 위기를 맞았던 이명박정부는 이전까지 인터넷의 파급효과에 충분히 대비하지 못했다.
Additional reporting by Song Jung-a

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

미네르바 열풍은 정부의 실정이 만들어낸 현상이다. 정부를 신뢰하지 못하는 국민들은 인터넷의 영웅에게서 안정을 찾고자 했다. 미네르바의 의견은 정부가 하는 말보다 현실을 정확히 파악했고, 미래를 똑바로 바라보았다. 정부가 좀 더 정직했다면 미네르바 열풍은 있지도 않았을 것이다. 이명박 정부가 계속 실정을 하는 한 또다른 미네르바가 나타날 수 밖에 없다.