미네르바 무죄 선고, 이명박 유죄 선고

4월 20일 장애인의 날은 거대권력이 견강부회에 침소봉대하려다가 망신을 당한 날로 기억될 것이다. 20일 전기통신기본법 47조 1항위반 혐의로 구속 기소된 박 대성 씨에 대해 무죄가 선고 되었다. 재판부는허위성 인식이나 공익을 해할 목적이 없다고 했다. 당연한 선고다.
 
이는 정부정책 비판에 대해서 무리하게 법리를 구성해 온  검찰에게는 유죄를 선고한 것과 다름 없다. 정치 검찰이라는 오명은 어쩌면 당연한 것인지 모른다. 정부 비판에 재갈을 물리려고 한 이명박 정부의 행태에 유죄를 선고한 것과 다름이 없다. 재판부는 정치 사법부가 되는 오명에서 벗어났다. 엄혹한 이명박 정부에서 보인 판사의 용기에 박수를 보내는 것이 당연하다. 아고라가 경제정책에 치명적인 영향을 미치는 것이 아니라는 사실도 밝혀졌다. 지난해 12월 말 ‘미네르바’의 ‘달러매수 금지’ 글로 인해 20억 달러 이상의 외환 보유액 손실을 발행했다는 것이 고려의 가치가 되지 못했다.

정부 정책 비판이 공익을 해할 목적으로 이루어지지 않는 것은 당연하다. 이제 정부 정책 비판은 자유롭게 이루어져야 한다. 최근에 일어나고 있는 인터넷상의 압박은 거두어져야 한다.  정부정책에 치명적인 장에가 아니라는 사실이 밝혀진 마당에 더욱 그러하다. 표현의 자유는 거스릴수없는 헌법적 가치임이 증명되었다. 행정 재량행위가 표현의 자유를 넘어설 수는 없는 것이다.

하지만, 전기통신기본법 47조 1항에 대한 위헌법률제청을 기각한 것은 아쉬운 일이다. 차제에 표현의 자유를 침해하는 입법 행위에 대해서 올바른 사법적 판단이 내려져야 한다. 이제 거꾸로 박대성씨가 검찰을 고소할 일만 남았다. 그가 겪은 고초는 손해배상청구감이기 때문이다. 이를 통해 함부로 구속기소하는 일을 막아야 한다.

• ASIA NEWS
• APRIL 20, 2009, 8:10 A.M. ET

South Korea Blogger Acquitted

By EVAN RAMSTAD

SEOUL – A South Korean judge ruled Monday that a blogger who was arrested after criticizing government economic policies was not guilty of spreading false information, the latest step in the country's struggle to balance freedom of speech with the potentially damaging effects of anonymous online postings.

Associated Press

Park Dae-sung was released from the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, South Korea.

In his ruling, Seoul Central District Judge Yu Young-hyun found that Park Dae-sung, a 30-year-old, unemployed man from Seoul who posted economic articles on a Korean web site under the pseudonym "Minerva," didn't write to "intentionally harm the public interest."

The judge found that Mr. Park, a junior college graduate, didn't understand some of the things he was writing about, including currency exchange processes. But he rejected prosecutors' claim that a posting by Mr. Park on Dec. 29 led to a downward spiral in the value of the South Korean won.

Mr. Park gained notoriety for a posting in early September in which he predicted Lehman Brothers would collapse. Lehman's difficulties were widely known at the time, but fans of Mr. Park's writing and local newspapers gave wide attention to the prediction after the investment bank's failure in mid-September.

His use of a pseudonym prompted widespread guessing about his identity and background. Some people believed he was an investment banker or government official with inside information about the South Korean financial system. Mr. Park's identity was revealed after his arrest in January.

Prosecutors, who sought an 18-month prison sentence for Mr. Park, said they would appeal the ruling. Mr. Park was released from jail after the ruling and told local reporters that he would continue to write online.

The ruling is the latest development in South Korea's effort to cope with online anonymity. In 2005, South Korean lawmakers created a so-called "real name" law to counter online bullying, invasion of privacy and the spread of false information. It required people to use their real names in e-mail, online forums and blogs or register their names with Internet portal companies in order to use a pseudonym.

Anonymous and pseudonym-based postings helped fuel anti-government protests last year and have been blamed for the suicides of numerous people, including a handful of prominent actresses.

The 2005 law is being tested in several court cases. Last Thursday, the South Korea Supreme Court ruled that Internet portals are responsible for deleting defamatory and malicious comments on their Web sites, even if the person being criticized hasn't complained.

The latest phase of the law recently took effect and extended the real-name rules to lesser-visited portals such as Google Inc., which gets relatively little traffic in South Korea compared to local competitors such as NHN Inc.'s Naver. Google this month disabled the ability of South Koreans to post comments on its Korea-based Web sites, including videos to YouTube.

—Hyongki Park contributed to this article.

Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com