So. Korea Tiptoeing Toward Fascism: Will Sentence Blogger ‘Minerva’ Who Predicted Lehman Bros. Collapse
April 13, 2009
“South Korea’s democracy seems to be deteriorating by the day — this time with the proposed 18-month incarceration of a blogger critical of the South’s economic policy,” observes WIRED’s Threat Level blogger David Kravetz.
Popular South Korean blogger Park Dae-sung (aka Minerva) faces up to 18 months in prison for posting comments critical of the ROK’s economic policies, The Associated Press is reporting.
South Korean prosecutors said Minerva will be sentenced on April 20 for posting a story the government says undermined the county’s credibility.
In a Dec. 29 post, Minerva wrote that the South Korean government had ordered financial institutions to stop buying dollars in order to curb the won’s fall against the greenback.
The posting devastated the local foreign exchange market, forcing the nation’s financial authority to spend $2 billion of its reserves as the demand for dollars surged wildly, prosecutors claim.
Park’s online popularity swelled after he foretold the collapse of Lehman Bros. and anticipated the resulting plunge of the South Korea currency, the won, all the while castigating policymakers for their blunders.
Park has been held without bail since mid-January.
fas·cism: (often capitalized) a political philosophy that exalts nation above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
Three to Watch: Kimberly Jo, Judy Chu, Sam Yoon
April 13, 2009
 |
 |
 |
BURBANK, Calif. is a city in which no Asian American has ever been elected to public office, but 28-year-old hometown girl Kimberly Jo, the daughter of South Korean immigrant parents will try to change that Tuesday when voters go to the polls to select three new city council members. Meanwhile, in Monterey Park, Calif., former 60s activist and educator-turned-politician Judy Chu is seeking the 32nd District House seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a special election set for May 19. Chu, 56, is a former member of state assembly and currently serves on the powerful board of equalization. Perhaps the most dynamic young Asian American political figure in the country today is Princeton Univ. and Harvard Kennedy School of Government graduate Sam Yoon, 39. The South Korean immigrant, who burst on the Boston political scene in 2005 when he won himself a Boston city council seat, has announced that he wants to be elected Boston’s first Asian American mayor this fall.
- ELECTION UPDATE: Kimberly Jo Falls 200 Votes Shy of Burbank Council Seat, Burbank Leader
- Candidate profile: Kimberly Jo, Burbank Leader
- Judy Chu: The Race to Succeed Solis—Let the Bloodbath Begin, LA Weekly
- Video: Sam Yoon Makes It Official, Dorchester Reporter
