Ehhhh… sexy Ban Ki!
Photo © 2012 AFP/AAP/Stan Honda
He’s been feted by Bono and Sting, but United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has now finally shown the world his dance moves – Gangnam style.
The UN leader met his compatriot, K-Pop phenomenon Psy, face-to-face this week. And the press gallery suggested that Psy might like to teach Ban the famous Gangnam “horsie dance”.
“I think probably he already knows how to dance,” said Psy.
“I’m nervous,” laughed the Secretary-General, before whipping out his best attempt, with surprisingly supple wrists.
Ban admitted that in times of global conflict and crisis, artists like Psy could act as a force for good.
“I think that music can play a very important role. I hope we can work together, using your global reach.”
Ban acknowledged the massive online success of “Gangnam Style”, which has now had over 530 million hits on Youtube.
“For all the Koreans he is the guy, you know, in everyone’s heart in Korea, the best among the best,” Psy said. “To be here and he knows me, even the thing that he knows me is so touching right now and he’s saying he saw my video, he counted my video views.”
Of course Ban may just be wanting to piggyback on Psy’s success.
Currently Ban’s most popular Youtube video is “Empowering people with disabilities vital for achieving development targets“, with just over half a million hits. (And it’s probable that most of those are for the guest ambassador Stevie Wonder, whom the Secretary-General introduces.)
"I'm a bit jealous," Ban said to Psy. "Until a few days ago someone told me I am the most famous Korean in the world. Now I have to relinquish the title to you. But I have no regrets."
“So now you have first and second famous Korean in the same building,” added Psy.
For the pop star, meeting the UN chief was a career highlight.
“Unbelievable, really. This is a much better feeling than when I did number two on Billboard.”
He means the Billboard charts, where “Gangnam Style” has been kept from the top spot for four weeks by Maroon 5’s “One More Night”.
