Gangnam Style’ sets new Guinness World Record

Psy to hold press conference on Tuesday in Seoul to talk about his success in the U.S., future plans

Korean pop singer Psy has broken the Guinness World Record with his smash hit “Gangnam Style.”

Guinness World Records has named his music video the most “liked” in history, earning over 2,295,231 “likes” on YouTube as of Saturday.

“Having been the ‘have you seen this?’ video of the last two months across the web, it’s great to be able to award a record for this tremendously popular video,” said Dan Barrett, community manager for Guinness World Records, in a statement.

Before “Gangnam Style,” LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” was the most liked video with 1,576,578 likes, ahead of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” with 1,328,914 likes and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” with 1,247,030 likes.

“In years past, it was unthinkable that something would be viewed a hundred million times, and now ‘Gangnam Style’ has achieved more than twice this figure in just three months on YouTube,” Barrett said. The video has 230 million YouTube views and counting.

Korean rapper-singer Psy performs during the 2012 iHeart Radio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sept. 21.(Yonhap News)

The music video that features a horse-trotting dance was posted on July 15 and went viral all over the world, including the U.S., the world’s biggest music market.

Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang, signed with Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun and made several appearances on U.S. TV channels including MTV, NBC and CNN.

Even North Korea posted a video parody of Psy’s globally popular “Gangnam Style” on its official Uriminzokkiri website.

Over the weekend, the 34-year-old singer performed on the same stage with A-list stars for “iHeart Radio Music Festival 2012” held in Las Vegas. The list of global pop stars appearing at the show included Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pink, Bon Jovi, Lil Wayne, Green Day, No Doubt, Pitbull, Linkin Park and Usher who had a private lesson for Psy’s horse-riding dance.

As Psy continued to gain momentum in America, Korean audiences haven’t a chance to see him on stage at home recently, except for a pre-recorded episode of “Super Star K” where he serves as a judge along with Yoon Mi-rae and Lee Seung-chul.

However, the good news is that Psy is returning to Korea this week.

He will hold a news conference on Tuesday afternoon in Seoul to talk about his tremendous success in the U.S. and his future plans, his agency YG Entertainment said on Saturday.

He is also likely to appear on a few TV shows and perform for some concerts and festivals he signed on for before he became an international star.

According to a festival organizing committee for Seowon University in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Psy will perform four of his songs at the school’s annual festival on Wednesday evening.

The festival organizers booked Psy in July before he grabbed international attention and decided to go to the U.S. to test the popularity of the song himself.

“We were lucky enough to have Psy for our festival. We just contacted his agency (in July) because he had a great show two years ago at our school,” a student organizer was quoted as saying by Yonhap News agency on Sunday.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)

U.S. woman finds out her late husband was her father

(MCT)

A 60-year-old Ohio woman has made the horrifying discovery that her late husband was in fact her father, according to local news reports.

Valerie Spruill, a mother of three, found out about her true lineage six years after her father and husband Percy died in 1998 at the age of 60. Her uncle told her that the startling fact and a DNA test confirmed it.

This bizarre twist began when Spruill was sent to live with her grandparents when she was just three months old. She had been told that her grandparents were her parents and her mother was just a family friend.

At age nine, she found out the truth about her mother and her grandparents, but she was not told who her real father was.

Later she met Percy who was working as a truck driver and parking-lot attendant in Akron, and they eventually got married.

Spruill said that her father-husband was aware of the fact that he married his daughter but was afraid to tell her, although she does not know for certain.

The horrendous revelation has induced several serious health problems for Spruill, and she has been seeing a therapist to her cope with the situation.

Still, Spruill said that she decided to share her story in hope of finding her other siblings.

“My biggest goal is to find them and let ’em know that (their mother) loved them, no matter what … And (to say) ‘Thank God she gave you away like she did me, so you could have a beautiful life,’” she said.


From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Unlikely Korean pop star conquers the U.S. -- 'Gangnam Style'

(YouTube)

A chubby thirty-something with wacky dance moves, Park Jae-Sang falls far short of the prettified, teenage ideal embodied by the stars of South Korea's phenomenally successful K-pop industry.

But Park, known as "Psy," has succeeded where the industry-manufactured girl and boy bands have tried and failed, making a huge splash on the mainstream U.S. music scene thanks to a viral video and a rare sense of irony.

Since being posted on YouTube in July, Psy's video for "Gangnam Style" -- the title song of his sixth album -- has racked up more than 150 million views and spawned a host of admiring parodies.

The accompanying worldwide publicity has earned him a U.S. contract with Justin Bieber's management agency, a guest appearance at last week's MTV awards in Los Angeles and a spot on NBC's flagship "Today" show.

Earlier this week he was given the opportunity to school U.S. pop diva Britney Spears on his increasingly famous signature dance moves on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show".

The breakout success of "Gangnam Style" has been viewed with a mixture of pride and surprise in Psy's home country, with industry analysts scrabbling to identify the magic ingredient that made it such a phenomenal success abroad.

The Gangnam of the title is Seoul's wealthiest residential and shopping district, lined with luxury boutiques, top-end bars and restaurants frequented by celebrities and well-heeled, designer-clad socialites.

The video pokes fun at the district's lifestyle, with Psy breezing through a world of speed boats, yoga classes and exclusive clubs -- all the while performing an eccentric horse-riding dance accompanied by beautiful models.

Humor, especially satirical humor, is rare in the mainstream Korean music scene, and that coupled with the 34-year-old's embrace of his anti-pop idol looks has helped set him apart.

According to Simon Stawski, the Canadian co-founder of the popular "Eat Your Kimchi" blog on K-pop and Korean culture, Psy is the "antithesis of K-pop" and its stable of preening, sexualised, fashion-conscious young stars.

"K-pop bands are exceptionally controlled by their management. Psy doesn't buy into that at all, and that's partly why he's such a breath of fresh air," Stawski told AFP.

"Above all, Psy doesn't take himself seriously and uses irony and self-deprecation that are absent from K-pop," he said.

This, Stawski adds, is what has allowed Psy to jump the English language barrier and find a wider audience for a song which, apart from its title, is almost entirely in Korean.

In South Korea, "Gangnam Style" has won Psy a new fan base by appealing to those for whom the sanitised image of K-pop bears little resemblance to their actual lives.

"His somewhat 'normal' appearance makes him feel familiar, and the comic dancing and wacky fashion style give off a friendly image, branding Psy as someone people would want to party with," the daily Munhwa Ilbo commented.

Psy himself says he invites laughter, not ridicule.

"My motto is to be funny, but not stupid," he said in an interview with the Yonhap news agency.

"I want everyone who sees my performance to feel the efforts I've made so far as a singer rather than a lucky guy who got here without anything," he said.

A relative veteran after 11 years on the Korean music scene, Psy has always had a small but loyal fan base that has stuck with him through numerous ups and downs, including an early brush with the law for smoking marijuana.

In 2007, he was forced to serve a second period of compulsory military service after it was revealed that he had continued with his showbiz interests during his first two-year stint.

His overnight leap from relative obscurity to global sensation came as a personal, if welcome, shock.

"It's all so surreal to me," he told Yonhap. "I never thought such a day would come in my life as a singer."

It remains to be seen if "Gangnam Style" will prove to be anything more than a one-hit wonder, but its success so far, especially in the United States, is likely to prompt a review of marketing strategies in the Korean music industry.

"It's not going to be a revolution, but more of a baby-steps evolution," said Esther Oh, online news editor at CJ Entertainment, the country's largest media conglomerate.

"Psy has shown you can be successful as a human, regular guy with a touch of humor. Other artists and management companies are going to look at that and maybe rethink their own styles and strategies," Oh said. (AFP)

Investment limit should be expanded to top-30 firms

The opposition Democratic United Party calls for the strengthening of the equity investment ceiling as the core of its economic democratization measures, a key theme in the run-up to this year’s presidential election.

Party Rep. Kim Ki-sik said the regulation had little effect in the past because it was too loose.

A member of the parliamentary finance committee, the former civic activist issued a revision bill of the Fair Trade Act, banning the top 30 conglomerates from investing the equivalent of 25 percent or more of their net assets in other firms.

His is a reinforced version of the party’s, which set a 30 percent ceiling on the top 10 conglomerates.

“My core intention was not to tighten the regulations but to make sure that the law takes its proper effect,” he said.

The top 10 conglomerates will not be much affected by the ceiling system anyway as they are mostly invested as holding companies, according to the lawmaker.

“It is actually those in the upper-middle bracket which tend to expand themselves through cross-shareholding and encroach on the small and medium-sized companies,” Kim said.

“The system would be meaningless without including these firms in the subject range.”

He took the Kumho Asiana Group as an example of such blind spot.

“Kumho brought itself into a liquidity crisis in the past by taking over Daehan Express and Daewoo Engineering & Construction a in 2006,” the lawmaker said.

Rep. Kim Ki-sik of the DUP

“Such falls would lead to bad loans and also force the government to provide support funds with taxpayers’ money.”

The group was excluded from the ceiling restriction as it was not among the top 10 conglomerates.

“Some argue that the system goes against international standards, as it only exists here in Korea,” he said.

“But they need to understand that chaebol, or Korean conglomerates, are also unique.”

In no other countries in the world would conglomerates exercise such unlimited power, both economically and socially, he said.

“It is for this reason that some proactive measures must be taken on a state level in order to prevent the irreversible losses of small firms and self-employed businessmen.”

Kim also refuted the argument that the regulations will have a negative effect on the nation’s economy.

“Samsung and Hyundai managed to develop themselves into global organizations even under the equity investment ceiling,” he said.

“What the system does is prevent conglomerate owners from monopolizing the economy.”

The DUP lawmaker criticized the ruling Saenuri Party’s plan to limit the chaebol reform for restricting circular shareholding only.

“The right wing’s idea is to advocate the vested rights of the conglomerates, while pretending to back economic democratization.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)

Pregnant rape victim beheads rapist, leaves head in village square

Nevin Yildirim

A rape victim awaits trial as she shot and decapitated her rapist and left his head in her village square, according to news reports.

26-year-old Nevin Yildirim was raped multiple times by distant relative Nurettin Gider, 35, over a period of eight months after her husband left for work in another town in January. Gider allegedly blackmailed her with nude photos he had taken of her after sneaking into her bedroom at night. He also threatened to kill her two children, aged 2 and 6, if she did not cooperate.

After multiple rapes, on Aug. 28, Yildirim shot Gider as he was climbing up the back wall of her house to sneak in. He reached for his gun, but she shot him against in his groin area. She shot him ten times in total and stabbed him once in the abdomen. She then cut off his head and carried it to the village square at Yalvac, southwest Turkey.

She told onlookers, “Don’t talk behind my back, don’t play with my honor. Here is the head of the man who played with my honor.”

Yildirim was arrested after being reported. She told the police, “My daughter will start school this year. Everyone would have insulted my children. Now no one can. I saved my honor. They will now call children the kids of the woman who saved her honor.”

She is five months pregnant with her rapist’s child and is asking Turkish court for an abortion even though Turkey’s abortion laws have a ten-week limit.


From news reports

S. Korea suffers falling potential growth

South Korea's potential economic growth rate is estimated to have fallen to the 3-percent range on its economic slowdown stemming from the eurozone debt crisis and population aging, economists said Thursday.

The country's potential growth rate, or the maximum possible rate at which an economy can grow without triggering inflation, had remained in the range of 4.5-5 percent between 1998 and 2007, according to estimates by private think tanks.

South Korea's central bank has not officially announced the potential growth rate since 2005, but the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Korea's potential growth rate is estimated to stand in the upper range of 3 percent or near 4 percent.

"If an economic slowdown is protracted, denting facility investment, the underlying trend of the potential growth rate could fall," said an official at the BOK.

Analysts said the global financial crisis and the eurozone debt woes have led Korea's potential growth rate to decline to the 3-percent range, spawning concerns about the economic momentum.

"The potential growth rate is estimated to reach around 3.8 percent for now although we saw the rate reach an estimated 4 percent only six months earlier," said Yim Hee-jung, a senior economist at the Hyundai Economic Research Institute.

Yim projected that the potential economic rate had stayed at around 4.7 percent right after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

A potential economic growth rate is highly affected by the structural changes in population and facility investment, gauges of labor and capital stocks.

The estimate came as Korea's quarterly growth rate more than halved to 0.3 percent in the second quarter on faltering exports and sluggish domestic demand. The full-year growth is widely expected to reach in the 2-percent range, down from 3.6 percent tallied for last year. More analysts bet on another rate cut by the BOK to 2.75 percent for September.

Korea's population growth is slowing down and the number of economically viable people aged 15-64 reached 35.64 million as of July after peaking at 39.6 million in 2008, according to data by the state-run statistics agency.

The country's fertility rate reached 1.24 last year, lower than an average birth rate of 1.74 among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Facility investment has showed weak performance as companies were reluctant to spend big amid heightened economic uncertainty.

The finance ministry said in a report that if facility investment remains sluggish, the economic recovery is likely to be delayed, raising chances that growth potential would be hurt.

In the second quarter, corporate capital investment contracted

7 percent on-quarter, a turnaround from 10.3 percent on-quarter expansion in the first quarter.

Some raised concerns that if the current trends go on, Korea's potential growth is feared to fall as low as to the 1-percent range someday.

But others claimed that the global financial crisis may not have given meaningful downward pressure on the potential growth rate and the rate cannot sharply fall to a worrying level as the government would not stand idle.

The BOK official said that the potential growth may fall to the 1-percent range in theory if the trend of low growth continues and the population ages.

"But inflows of immigrants and a set of the government's policies could prevent the potential growth rate from sharply declining." (Yonhap News)

Hackers claim 12m Apple IDs from FBI

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A hacker group has claimed to have obtained personal data from 12 million Apple iPhone and iPad users by breaching an FBI computer, raising concerns about government tracking, but the FBI said it never had the data.

The group called AntiSec, linked to the hacking collective known as Anonymous, posted one million Apple user identifiers on Monday purported to be part of a larger group of 12 million obtained from an FBI laptop.


The FBI initially had no comment on the reports, but later in the day issued a statement which cast doubt on the purported data breach, saying it never had the data in question.

“The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs (unique device identifiers) was exposed,” the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

“At this time, there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”

A tweet from the FBI press office said: “We never had info in question. Bottom Line: TOTALLY FALSE.”

Peter Kruse, an e-crime specialist with CSIS Security Group in Denmark, said on Twitter that the leak “is real” and that he confirmed three of his own devices in the leaked data.

“Also notice that they claim to have fullname, addresses, phone numbers etc ... Big ouch!” he tweeted.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The fact that some user data was breached prompted a flurry of comments, some suggesting that the government or Apple was implicated in a vast invasion of user privacy.

Aldo Cortesi, a security consultant living in New Zealand, called the incident “a privacy catastrophe.”

“The vulnerabilities ranged from de-anonymization, to takeover of the user’s gaming social network account, to the ability to completely take over the user’s Facebook and Twitter accounts,” he said on a blog posting.

One website set up a database to help users determine if their device was on the hacked list of Apple unique device IDs (UDIDs).

Johannes Ullrich of the SANS Internet Storm Center said it was difficult to verify the report.

“There is nothing else in the file that would implicate the FBI. So this data may very well come from another source. But it is not clear who would have a file like this,” he said.

Ullrich said it is unclear why the FBI, if the report were true, would have the data.

“The size of the file ... would imply a widespread, not a targeted tracking operation, or the file was just kept in case any of the users in the file needs to be tracked,” he said.

“The significance of this breach very much hinges on the source, which as far as I know, hasn’t been authenticated yet. The data is, however, real based on some of the reports that people do find their own UDID in the file.”

In the posting, AntiSec said the original file “contained around 12,000,000 devices” and that “we decided a million would be enough to release.”

The group said it “trimmed out other personal data such as full names, cell numbers, addresses, zipcodes, etc.”

It said it posted the information to draw attention to Apple’s practices, which allow users to be tracked.

“We never liked the concept of UDIDs since the beginning indeed. Really bad decision from Apple,” it said.

It added “we have learnt it seems quite clear nobody pays attention if you just come and say ‘hey, FBI is using your device details ...’ FBI IS USING YOUR DEVICE INFO FOR A TRACKING PEOPLE PROJECT OR SOME S―-.”

The document posted on the website pastebin indicated that the data was obtained in March from the computer of an FBI Cyber Action supervisor through a “vulnerability” in the computer.

Eric Hemmendinger, a security expert with Tata Communications, said that if an FBI computer from a cybersecurity investigator was hacked, it would be “a pretty embarrassing scenario.”

Hemmendinger said the FBI’s possession of the data would be surprising, but that it should not be a surprise that Apple and its rivals would have detailed information on its users.

“This is yet another indicator that when you start to participate in social networking and applications that Apple and (Google’s) Android have propagated, you are the asset that’s being leveraged and monetized,” he said.

“It’s yet another reminder that when you join the social network world, your footprints are not private.”

Lawmakers rapped for jacking up own salaries

By Lee Tae-hoon Netizens are taking collective action to address the “brazen act” by lawmakers of increasing their salary by about 20 percent. The move came a day after Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, revealed that there has been a hike in lawmakers’ pay. In 2010, then National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae proposed a pay hike, which was accepted by Reps. Kim Moo-sung and Park Jie-won, floor leaders of the ruling and the main opposition Democratic United Party, respectively. “Lawmakers of the 19th National Assembly are receiving 20 percent more in salary compared to those of the 19th Assembly,” he said in a meeting of senior party members. “We will be likely pressured to return our pay checks if we fail to do our job properly during the regular parliamentary session.” As of Wednesday afternoon, some 2,000 people signed up for an online petition that urges the public to voice concerns over lawmakers’ serving their own interests rather than those of the people in Daum’s Agora forum. Nearly 200 netizens left comments on the forum, many of which denounce the hypocritical behavior of parliamentary members and their failure to live up to a pledge to give up their privileges granted to them as lawmakers. “As always, lawmakers remain preoccupied by their own interests,” said a netizen with the ID “flying bird.” Another netizen pointed out that excessive authorities bestowed to lawmakers are allowing them to exploit tax payers’ money for their own benefits. “A new measure should be introduced to prevent lawmakers from handling legislation concerning their own interests,” said the netizen with the ID “River, Mountain and Ocean.” A different netizen lamented that he is puzzled by reluctance from legislators to hike the country’s minimum wage, which is currently 4,320 won ($3.9) per hour, while secretly raising their pay by two digits. “I demand to hike the minimum wage by 20 percent,” the netizen said. The majority of Saenuri lawmakers gave up their June salary after the leadership of the conservative party decided to lay down the "no-work, no-pay" principle, as a part of reform measures. An official of the National Assembly Secretariat says this year’s annual salary of lawmakers will be 147.4 million won, up 24 percent compared to 118.44 million won in 2010. The official noted that it will cost at least 638.6 million won of tax payers’ money each year to keep a lawmaker this year. “Lawmakers are allowed keep nine staff members, including two interns, to whom the government pays 393.1 million won per year,” he said. “On top of it, the government hands out 98.2 million won to each lawmaker in subsidies to assist their legislative activities, including 17.5 million won set aside for the running of a luxury car.” A civic group, Citizens United for Better Society (CUBS), expressed their disappointment over the pay hike, saying “the country has sent the fox to keep the geese.” “We find it lamentable that the lawmakers pledge for reform was a political show,” CUBS said in a statement. Apart from the paycheck, lawmakers are allowed to collect campaign funds of up to 150 million won per year that they can use to support legislative activities and other expenses required for running their office. Lawmakers can collect up to 30 million won of campaign funds during an election year.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr

Apple announces Sept. 12 event as new iPhone anticipated

Apple Inc. (AAPL) sent out invitations to a Sept. 12 product event in San Francisco, where the company is expected to unveil a redesigned iPhone.

“It’s almost here,” Cupertino, California-based Apple said in the invitation, whose image includes a ‘5’ in shadow, possibly in reference to the new product’s name. At the event, set for 10 a.m. at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple will introduce a new iPhone with a larger screen and thinner body, two people with knowledge of the plans said in July.

The iPhone is Apple’s top-selling product, accounting for about 70 percent of its profits, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Release of the new model, which will work with speedier wireless networks, comes as Apple faces heightened competition from Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), which has become the world’s largest handset maker by releasing dozens of new devices a year, compared with Apple’s single new iPhone release.

If the device goes on sale on Sept. 21, Apple could sell as many as 10 million new iPhones in the final week of September, according to Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos.

The success of the iPhone has helped Apple become the world’s most valuable company by market value. The company’s shares rose 1.5 percent to $674.97 at the close in New York. The shares have risen more than sevenfold since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the device in January 2007. (Bloomberg)

Founder under pressure as Facebook continues to fall

Facebook Inc.’s struggle continues with no end in sight, especially after its stock prices hit a record low and marketers expressed skepticism whether Facebook ads were really working.

Shares of the world’s largest social network operator plummeted 5.4 percent to close at $18.06 in New York on Friday, the lowest amount since it went public on May 17 with $38 per share.

The fall of the company’s stock to half of its initial value is a shameful outcome, while its earlier projection of stock prices went well above $60 before the much-hyped second-largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

In terms of market capitalization, Facebook lost more than half of its value, falling to $43 billion from $100 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. (Bloomberg)

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who joined the U.S. biz tycoon club with the IPO, suffered a huge loss, with the value of his shares shrinking from $19.1 billion to $9 billion.

Facebook’s 2012 sales growth outlook turned bleak, too.

Market researcher EMarketer revised down the company’s revenue outlook this year to $5.04 billion on Friday from its earlier February projection of $6.1 billion.

The gloomier outlook is attributed to worse-than-expected effectiveness of Facebook advertisements.

The company’s second-quarter earnings report released in July showed that Facebook’s ad revenue weakened to a 28 percent gain year-on-year, compared to 36 percent in the first quarter and 48 percent in the last quarter of 2011. A big slide in ad growth slammed the company’s second-quarter revenue, resulting in only 32 percent increase year-on-year, compared to 45 percent in the previous quarter.

Some critics question the leadership of Zuckerberg. The 28-year-old is a computer whiz but a novice corporate manager, and they argue that perhaps he should step down and let a seasoned manager take care of the multibillion-dollar business.

However, Facebook is doing relatively well in South Korea.

The total number of Facebook users here has surpassed 8.8 million in mid-August out of Facebook’s 955 million users in total, putting the country on the 26th in the global ranking, according to statistics by Socialbakers.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)

Psy's 'Gangnam Style' tops Billboard's 'Social 50' chart

South Korean rapper-singer Psy's hit-single "Gangnam Style" on Friday rose to the top of a major chart of the U.S. music publication Billboard boosted by the viral popularity of the song's music video on the Internet.

"Gangnam Style" sits on top of Billboard's "Social 50" chart, beating famous North American pop stars such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber as well as British idol group One Direction and rock band Muse as of Friday, according to Billboard's Web site.

The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on such social networking services as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, using a formula that blends weekly additions of friends, fans and followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.

Also on Friday, "Gangnam Style" ranked second in the Billboard's World Albums chart and 24th in the Heatseekers Albums, a Billboard chart for up-and-coming singers.

In addition, the song rose to the 40th place on U.S. iTune's "Top 100 Songs Chart" that day, four notches up from 44th on Tuesday.

Psy, whose Korean name is Park Jae-sang, is not well known outside his country but rose to stardom on YouTube for the "Gangnam Style" music video in which he demonstrates a comical horse-riding dance.

Interest in the singer has doubled since the video was covered by major foreign news media such as CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and the weekly news magazine Time this month.

The video has drawn more than 77 million views on YouTube as of early Friday.

"Oppa You're My Style," a sequel to the hit music video, has also attracted more than 21 million views.

(Yonhap News)