Prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant for an Internet user suspected of being the online commentator “Minerva” is a measure blatantly reflecting the Lee Myung-bak administration’s intent to control public opinion on the Internet and part of a politics of intimidation that seeks to gag all critical voices, critics are charging.

The Minerva arrest continues a series of controversies over the controlling of public opinion since the inauguration of the Lee administration. As seen in the investigation of individuals for spreading “mad cow disease stories” and stories about the death of a female university student at a candlelight protest and in the investigation of an Internet user participating in a movement to halt advertising in major conservative newspapers, the government has consistently shown an allergic response to critical voices online.

“The fact of the prosecutor investigating Internet writings itself has a severely withering effect on Internet users,” said Oh Byung-il, a member of the Korean Progressive Network. Oh expressed concerns that a “learning effect” from the Minerva arrest will sharply reduce voices critical of the government and severely damage freedom of expression.

The prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant occurred without it being clearly established that the suspect was indeed Minerva, that the posts were actually written with the goal of harming the public welfare, or that it is possible to punish someone for the content of his or her writing. “Rashly requesting a warrant when this is an area of major legal controversy frankly reveals the prosecutors’ intention of having an ‘intimidation effect,’” said Korea University professor Ha Tae-hoon.

Amid economic crisis, Minerva was the center of critical public opinion. For this reason, some are interpreting the arrest as an attempt by the government to nip in the bud the spread of national anxiety over the economic crisis, which is even being pointed to as a major factor bringing about a second series of candlelight protests.

“It is absurd for the prosecutors to say that Minerva harmed the common good when the ‘Minerva phenomenon’ was brought about by the people’s lack of confidence in government policy,” said Kim Ki-won, an economics professor at the Korea National Open University. The Minerva arrest has no other goal but to suppress voices critical of government policy, Kim added.

There is also a strong likelihood that the government and ruling party will use this instance as grounds for justifying its pursuit of a law against online insults. The conservative newspapers are already doing so in deriding Minerva as a “quack,” making stronger claims for the need to introduce the law as a means of blocking the spread of false information by unqualified individuals.

“The Minerva arrest is a symbolic incident proving the Lee Myung-bak administration’s ‘no communication politics,’ where they refuse to listen to any differing opinions or criticism,” said SungKongHoe University Professor Cho Hyeon-yeon. “Instead of putting forth proper policy, they are going back to the typical old-school ‘scapegoat politics,’ passing the responsibility onto commentators critical of their policy,” Cho said.

A securities company analyst pointed to the president and government’s evasion of responsibility, saying, “The government couldn’t properly grasp the causes of the economic slump, they covered up the bad information and they were unable to be frank. Seeing the government like that led to the spread of the Minerva syndrome.”

For this reason, groups like the Emergency Citizen Action to Protect Democracy and Block the Suppression of Candlelight Protests are calling for the immediate arrest of President Lee Myung-bak, who “spread false information about the stock index reaching 3,000.”

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