Seoul - A South Korean court Monday acquitted a man who had stood accused of damaging the country's economy with his critical reports as a blogger.

The court said it could not be proven that the man's articles had contained intentionally erroneous information.

Even if he had known the information was false, it could not be proven that he intentionally was seeking to damage the country's economy, the judge was cited by the Yonhap agency as saying.

The blogger, identified as Park Dae Sung, alias his pseudonym "Minerva," had last year gained notoriety with more than 100 articles in an internet forum about economic issues.

Among others, he had correctly predicted that there would be a major devaluation of the South Korean currency vis-a-vis the US dollar. He had also criticised the government's economic policies. Some of his predictions did not come true.

State prosecutors had accused Park of having endangered the country's currency stability by intentionally spreading erroneous information in the internet. In order to stabilise markets, the government was forced to mobilise some of its currency reserves.

Park was arrested in January, in a case which had triggered strong debate in the country about principles of freedom of opinion in the internet. (dpa)