It's a chilly November evening in the South Korean city of Kwangju, and a middle-aged group is waiting at the train station for 60-year-old presidential contender Park Geun-hye. Suddenly, the unmistakable riff of "Gangnam Style" throbs through the twilight. Wearing the crimson of Park's ruling Saenuri Party, four young women in short shorts bound across the platform. As they perform the song's distinctive riding and lassoing dance, many in the crowd look stunned, as if they have never seen the most watched video on YouTube or heard the tune that has become globally synonymous with South Korea.
Park's conservative supporters seem...