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.
See, because "elusive bloggers" are what's wrong with modern economies today and if only we could get a handle on them we might not have had this problem. (That and mouthy congresscritters, short sellers, David Einhorn, Jim Chanos, John Paulson... you get the idea).
"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.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.
Oh. Apparently we forgot to add "unemployed university graduates without any substantial expertise in economics."
In all seriousness, some clever talent spotter should give this guy UK citizenship and seed Minerva Capital, the dedicated Asian short fund.
Financial blogger arrested in South Korea [The Financial Times via the always excellent Alea]
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 10:10AM
"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."
So they aloow have CNBC.com in SK?
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 10:14AM
Never sign your posts. IP addresses are meaningless.
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 10:17AM
Douches like his highness A$ne$$ are easy to spot.
Posted by MarshallStack , Jan 09, 2009 10:17AM
@2 - Thanks - that is good advice.
Oh...shit......wait - a sec....dammit
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 10:45AM
Considering that he's being arrested for saying mean (but true) things, I don't think minor details like the accuracy of an IP address would make much of a difference.
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 11:13AM
What is an IP address?
-Anon
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 11:39AM
What are the unemployed university graduate bonus numbers?
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 11:45AM
Minerva must merge with Jimmy Cayne in order to survive.
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 12:53PM
Maybe they will arrest Barry Ritholtz for professing to be a genius
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 1:16PM
ha! Minerva is an italian chick's name. pretty great disguise for a korean dude. can't believe it didn't work.
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 1:33PM
Russian proverb: how to discern between male and female asians-- makeup
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 2:32PM
The reason this guy was so astute: HE ATE DOG. Don't other people grasp the dogmatic reality? You know minerva spelled backwords is: minipoodle
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 4:29PM
Thank God for the 1st Amendment! We love you Bess
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 4:30PM
Thanks God for the 1st Amendment - we love you Bess
Posted by guest , Jan 09, 2009 7:54PM
So, are AP ,Associated Press better known in Asia as Asshole Press, writers allowed to do so in Korea?
Asshole Press writers are worse than "Minerva" but they seem escape the dyslexic SK authorities.