N. Korea takes 'Gangnam Style' shot at South politician
North Korea has made a parody of the South Korean music video phenomenon "Gangnam Style" to attack the South's ruling conservative party presidential candidate Park Geun-Hye. The parody, posted on the official government website Uriminzokkiri, shows a crudely photo-shopped image of Park doing the "horse-riding dance" created by South Korean rapper Psy on the original "Gangnam Style" video. The North Korean version mocks Park as a devoted admirer of the "Yushin" system of autocratic rule set up by her father, Park Chung-Hee, after he seized power in South Korea in a 1961 military coup. "I'm Yushin style!," read a subtitle under the image of the dancing Park, South Korea's first female presidential candidate. The implied message is a sensitive one, with Park under pressure to denounce the excesses of her father's 18-year rule, which laid the foundations for the country's economic rise but was marked by systematic human rights abuses. "Don't say the Yushin era was hell, it helped the chaebols," ran another banner on the video, referring to the giant family-run conglomerates that have dominated the South Korean economy for decades. Psy's "Gangnam Style" video went viral soon after being posted on YouTube in mid-July and has since racked up more than 200 million views, sending the song to the top of the US iTunes Chart. It made Psy into an overnight sensation with a guest appearance at the recent MTV awards in Los Angeles and performances on numerous prime-time US talk shows.
