August 6, 2012
SEOUL (AFP) - An eccentric South Korean K-pop singer has become a global online hit after a video of his latest song was viewed more than 15 million times on YouTube.
Park Jae-Sang, 34, better known by his stage name "Psy", is riding high in the charts inside and outside Korea with "Gangnam Style", the title track of his sixth album.
The video featuring Psy performing the so-called "horse dance" -- similar to riding a horse -- has gone viral and pop stars overseas have tweeted and commented on the wacky performance.
Fans all over the world have created parody versions of the song and posted them on YouTube to share with others.
The song has been number one on Korea's major music charts for over three weeks and is also high on the iTunes store in the US, Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Denmark.
Psy could not be reached for comment Monday. But he told Yonhap News Agency Sunday that "My motto is 'be funny but not stupid'."
The singer suggested he picked Gangnam -- a wealthy district in southern Seoul -- as the setting for his satirical song in order to depict the gap between rich and poor in South Korea.
