Gangnam Style's success blamed on Korean conspiracy

Gangnam Style singer Psy. Chung Sung-Jun/ Getty Images

While South Korean rapper Psy's Gangnam Style has taken the world by storm, it has largely fallen flat in Japan.

Korean K-pop music is huge in Japan, but for one reason or another Japanese music fans have remained relatively immune to the seductive powers of Psy and his horse-riding dance.

While the tune has topped the music charts in the UK and is currently at number two in the US Billboard Hot 100, it has only just scraped into the top 30 of the Japanese iTunes charts

On top of this, various Japanese music blogs have suggested that the video’s success on YouTube - some 530 million views and counting - was down to South Koreans using automated viewing programmes called ‘bots.’

Some even started playfully referring to the song as F5 Style - a reference to the keyboard key used to refresh the window of an internet browser.

But South Korea has hit back. This week, the Korean Wave Research Institute (KWRI) - a non-profit body established in 2010 to “aggressively” promote Korean popular culture around the globe - denounced these theories.

KWRI president Han Koo-Hyun said the “outrageous” Japanese argument was “tantamount to doubting a world record in an Olympics marathon”.

Scepticism about the song’s worldwide popularity on YouTube “should be viewed as a primary school kid’s jealousy and envy”, Han said in a press release.

While this dispute may partially explain Gangnam Style's lack of success in Japan, others have suggested a more obvious reason. Psy didn't follow the path chosen by most K-pop stars of releasing a Japanese-language version of his tune. - AFP