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Trump Arrives in China as War with Iran Looms Over Trip; Trump Dismisses Economic Concerns as U.S. Inflation Rises; 75 Percent of Americans Say Iran War Has Hurt Their Finances; British PM Starmer Fighting to Remain in Power; King Charles Lay Outs Legislative Priorities at Parliament. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired May 13, 2026 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, these are live pictures from Beijing after U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the Chinese

capital for a critical meeting with Xi Jinping. It is 09:00 p.m. there, it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. From our Middle East programming

headquarters, you're watching "Connect the World".

I'm Becky Anderson. The stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now, and the picture a mixed one as we await the opening. Well, the

leaders of the world's most powerful nations prepare to sit down Thursday with a big question mark looming over their talks the U.S. war with Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump arriving in Beijing a short time ago to a red- carpet welcome. Before leaving Washington, he said the U.S. does not need China's help in ending the war with Iran. But it's notable that Defense

Secretary Pete Hegseth is part of the American delegation and accompanied the president on Air Force One.

Other issues on the front burner at the talks. Artificial intelligence trade and Taiwan. CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Beijing covering President

Trump's trip. She has more now on what to expect at this Trump, Xi meeting on Thursday.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If you talk to U.S. officials, White House officials, they do expect Iran to dominate these

conversations. And President Trump is expected to push the Chinese President to talk to these Iranian counterparts, to reopen the Strait of

Hormuz or even strike some sort of peace deal.

And I'll remind you that one of the top negotiators for Iran was just in China meeting with his counterparts last week before President Trump's

visit, likely going over their bottom line when it comes to these negotiations. And this couldn't come at a more critical point in the war.

President Trump has continued to say that we are very close to a deal with Iran, and yet now we've seen them come back with a proposal that President

Trump says is completely unacceptable. He has grown completely frustrated saying and considering, at least behind the scenes, restarting combat

operations in Iran.

So, this, again, is going to go over all of this, to shadow over all of this, but we do believe there will be some business deals. There's going to

be conversations about agriculture, soybeans, commercial jet liners. And President Trump is traveling with roughly a dozen of America's top CEOs,

Elon Musk, Tim Cook, all be in attendance.

So, we are expecting some private sector deals, kind of like what we saw when President Trump made that visit to the Gulf states at the beginning of

his presidency, private sector deals to come out of that as well.

ANDERSON: Well, that's Kristen Holmes reporting from Beijing. I'm joined now by Joe Leahy who's the Beijing Bureau Chief for the "Financial Times",

good to have you, sir. Thanks for joining us. What's your assessment, then, of what Beijing is looking for out of this trip?

JOE LEAHY, BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES: Yes, hi, Becky. Yeah. Beijing is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, so it definitely

could exert an influence over the talks with Iran. But the question is, of course, what does China want in return?

Would it want something on Taiwan, for instance, in return, for instance, reduced arm sales to Taiwan, or even a change of the U.S. posture on

Taiwan. So, I think that's something that U.S. allies will be watching very closely as these talks go ahead.

ANDERSON: Donald Trump has certainly said he's not asking for help on Iran. But just to do a slightly deeper dive on that, how significant is Tehran

for Beijing and any support or help they might be able to provide, in terms of at least optics at this point?

LEAHY: Iran is a significant partner for China, but China is a much more important partner for Iran, if China is the biggest buy of Iran's oil and a

big provider of weapons in the past, at least, and also of moral support, if you like, on the world stage. So, Iran does have very strong ties to

China.

But having said that, the question is, does China really want to help the U.S. get out of the situation that it has got into in the Middle East? And

I think to do that, it probably needs something significant in return.

[09:05:00]

ANDERSON: I want to get on to Taiwan, which is a really important file in a moment before we do that, the two countries, of course, do remain locked in

what is a fragile tariff truce reached last autumn. Do you believe this summit might stabilize this U.S., China trade relationship, or are we

simply, you know, delaying another trade war at this point?

LEAHY: Well, these two presidents are due to meet, or do have opportunities to meet quite often this year, up to four times. So, in Beijing, there is a

lot of among business leaders, there is a lot of hope that they might be able to lay the steps towards extending that trade truce even for another

year.

That would provide a very good sort of outlook for markets and investment. But having said that, they aren't meeting for very long. It's only one day

tomorrow, and then half of Friday, and then they're off. And we're not quite we're not certain how much preparation that they've done ahead of

this.

So, it might be a big ask to get them to extend the trade truce this time, but at least they might be able to make tentative steps towards that the

U.S. could make China could commit to make some purchasing agreements, for instance, of soybeans, Boeings and other products from the U.S.

And that might start to lay the steps towards extending the trade truce. China does want to extend, because China is a huge exporter, relying on

exports for growth, so it does need this stability in global trade at the moment.

ANDERSON: Xi Jinping is widely seen Joe as predictable in his goals for the summit, particularly when it comes to Taiwan. And you wrote quote Beijing

has pushed the U.S. to change its declaratory policy to say that it opposes Taiwanese independence. That is also alarmed Taiwan and the U.S. is Asian

allies, because it would replace more neutral language that Washington does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

Can you just further explain where you think things are at there, and how likely it is that Trump would change this policy and how significant that

shift would be in any U.S. policy language?

LEAHY: We've been told by the U.S. side that this policy will not change, that there is nothing on the horizon on this, but we do know that Chinese

have been pushing this, even if they say publicly that this is not on the agenda. If it did change, it would mark a significant change in the U.S.

posture, and it would alarm allies.

It would alarm allies in Japan, Taiwan and throughout the Pacific, as a softening of the U.S. posture, and perhaps slightly delivering Taiwan's

future over to the mainland. The question is, everything depends, really, on Trump. When he sits down with Xi Jinping, what will he say?

What will these two come -- what sort of agreements can these two come to? So, I think no one is willing to predict exactly what will be decided

during these next 1.5 days.

ANDERSON: Finally, Kristen Holmes, just ahead of you, pointing out that the business delegation that Donald Trump is traveling with, includes the head

of many of the U.S.'s big tech organizations, you know, Apple, Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX, of course, Jensen Huang of Nvidia.

These are -- this is sort of the same delegation that we saw here a year ago, actually, when Donald Trump came on his first visit as U.S. President

in his second term, which was to this Gulf region. What does that delegation, which, of course, includes the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

as well.

What does that say about the U.S. President's sort of transactional style is, is no way of doing business as it were, you know, which is his style of

doing diplomacy and his, you know, his sort of position when it comes to negotiation?

LEAHY: Yeah, I think it's really important that this delegation came together. We weren't quite sure who was going to be coming until the very

last minute, and it was really interesting to see Jensen Huang jump on the plane, I think, in Alaska. So, his inclusion, that seemed to be sort of at

the 11th Hour, was very important.

ANDERSON: Right.

LEAHY: He obviously wants to sell these chips, these H200 advanced chips to China. China has told its companies that they shouldn't buy these chips.

So, it's going to be very interesting to see whether or not he can break that impasse, but it does sort of go to say or go to show that Trump does

have this very transactional style, and is even at the last minute trying to cram in more business deals into this trip.

[09:10:00]

ANDERSON: Yeah, good to have you. It's going to be busy few days for you. Looking forward to reading your analysis in the FT. Thank you. We've got

insight and analysis from our reporters across the globe. Clare Duffy, standing by with the CNN business perspective in New York.

First, let's get you to Oren Liebermann, who is in Jerusalem. And Oren, the Pentagon, says that the cost of the Iran war has now risen to $29 billion

as sources say President Trump could restart combat operations any time. You know, as we sort of understand, that the ceasefire is very likely, this

fragile ceasefire is very likely to continue through this trip.

Those I speak to around this region aren't expecting anything to change, at least in the next few days. Where are we in terms of the U.S. and Israel's

strategic objectives at this point?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Becky, depends on when you're looking at what those stated objectives were, at the beginning of

the war for both Israel and the U.S. And this came from both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.

The goal was to destroy the nuclear program, or remove it in some way, remove the highly enriched uranium and the ballistic missile program and

end support for Iran's proxies. Those were the conditions that both countries put forward. Now, a lot of that, frankly, seems to be off the

table and hasn't been mentioned in quite some time.

The focus is now reopening the Strait of Hormuz and then dealing with Iran's nuclear program. So, the goals, at least as stated by the country's

leaders have dramatically narrowed here. And Israeli officials believe that President Donald Trump is really just focusing on the nuclear file on the

Strait of Hormuz and a lot of the other goals from the beginning, ballistic missiles, support for proxies, all of that could simply fall by the

wayside.

And obviously that's something that Israel is trying to watch very closely and knowing that's off the table, it then becomes that much more important,

certainly from Israel's perspective, and at this point, from Trump's perspective, given what he has said about the nuclear program and how

important it is to make sure that that at least is dealt with.

But as we've all seen, Iran is not exactly jumping to make concessions quite the opposite. They see themselves as negotiating from a position of

strength.

ANDERSON: I want to bring Clare, in. Thank you, Oren. All these tech giants traveling with Donald Trump. Just let's get your assessment of what they're

doing there and the wider discussion here, particularly on rare earth and critical minerals? I think we've lost Clare's audio.

Clare, I'm going to stop you there. I want to see whether I can bring you back, because I certainly can't hear you, and I don't think the viewers

can. Well, President Trump's trip to China is happening amid increasing economic pain in the United States, with higher energy costs and overall

rising inflation, brought on, of course, by the war with Iran.

Before leaving, the president downplays the affordability struggle now facing more and more Americans have listened to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're negotiating with Iran Mr. President, to what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a

deal?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Not even not even a little bit. The only thing that matters that I'm talking about Iran, they

can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody.

I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That's the only thing --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I want to bring in CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman. David those comments from the U.S. President coming at a time when costs

for the average American are rising. How is or will those comments land?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Not well. I mean, certainly CNN's poll yesterday that showed that 77 percent of Americans blame

President Trump for their cost-of-living problems. Says everything you need to know. And I can't think of a worse day for President Trump to make that

statement.

Considering that yesterday, when he made those comments, we had just gotten a report that for the first time in three years in the United States,

inflation is outpacing wages, and that means that your paycheck in the United States, your pay raise has gotten completely eaten by inflation.

[09:15:00]

Now, most of that is high gas prices, obviously. And President Trump said that that will start to come down once he gets out of the war, if he's able

to do that. But we got another report today, the Producer Price Index, which shows that businesses are paying much higher prices.

In fact, the highest since 2022 and that was a big shock to economist. It was significantly higher. Now, businesses, when they have to pay higher

prices, what do they do? They often raise their prices for consumers. Now, not always, and certainly consumers are saying, we do not want to pay

anymore.

So, there's some limitation there. It'll take time to figure out if this makes its way through the economy to consumers, but this is not a good sign

about the future of high prices. Never mind what just happened in the past month.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Fascinating. Good to have you. David, I want to bring back. Clare Duffy, couldn't hear you earlier. Clare, you and I were talking about

the business delegation full of tech giants with Donald Trump in Beijing, your assessment of what they're doing there, and you know what the

narrative is?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, Becky, as I was saying, I mean, I think it's certainly important in terms of flexing America's corporate and

innovative power in China, but potentially equally important in terms of Trump sending a message to the American public about this summit.

There are obviously some very tricky issues he's negotiating on here, like Iran and Taiwan. If he is able to bring home a win in terms of deals for

these American companies that could allow him to point to at least some win from this meeting, and there are companies that are looking for potential

gains.

Here, you've got a company like Nvidia, which has been pushing the Chinese government to allow it to restart sales of its chips in China. Boeing has

reportedly been in negotiations for a major order from China. And also, among this group, you have some friendly faces in China, like Apple CEO Tim

Cook, who has built a massive manufacturing ecosystem in China.

Elon Musk's Tesla has been cited by Chinese officials as a successful model for U.S.-China business collaboration. So, you have some friendly faces

that may make it more potentially attractive to China to make a deal. And then, Becky, you mentioned the major issue that is hanging over this

meeting, one of the major issues, which is artificial intelligence.

And both of these countries have something to gain here. The U.S. would like for China to ease its restrictions on rare earth minerals that are

needed to make things like chips and data centers and batteries. And China would like for the U.S. to ease its restrictions on advanced technology

going to China.

And so, both of these companies are countries, I should say, are walking sort of a fine line here, wanting to get what they need out of this, to

advance their AI technology, without wanting their rival to get too far ahead, Becky.

ANDERSON: Got it. All right, Clare, good to have you. Apologies for the tech issues at the top of that. Thank you so much. Clare Duffy is in New

York. Well across in the UK, and Britain's Prime Minister is on the ropes, fighting to keep his job. UK's leadership crisis could be ramping up

another notch. I'll explain more on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: Right, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting to stay in power in the face of calls for him, of course, to step down. UK media

reporting that potential challenger Wes Streeting, who is currently Britain's Health Secretary is preparing to resign as a member of Starmer's

current cabinet that could ramp up the UK's leadership crisis.

Now look, this comes after King Charles laid out downing streets agenda for the months ahead. CNN's Clare Sebastian standing by for us in London, we

saw the pomp and ceremony, that is an annual event not affected by what is going on in sort of day-to-day politics. We seem to be fighting the rain

there.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

ANDERSON: UK media reporting Wes Streeting is preparing to resign. How significant would that be?

SEBASTIAN: Yeah. Look, there's a real feeling here that things could be coming to a head after what's been a week of turmoil for the British Prime

Minister. Wes Streeting a key potential challenger to the prime minister. We saw him arrive here in Downing Street this morning for what was a

strikingly brief meeting.

He was in and out of Downing Street in about 17 minutes, and then, just before the king's speech got underway, later that morning, we had a report,

as you say, from the British media that Wes Streeting maybe preparing to resign and then launch a leadership challenge.

Now, that is not confirmed yet, but I think it's fair to say that this turmoil that we see in the Labor Party, in the prime minister's party.

We've seen throughout the week, members of parliament have come forward and said that they want him to resign. Others have come out and said that they

don't favor a leadership race right now.

This turmoil isn't going away, despite a small reprieve today from the king's speech, but this was obviously a day of political theater. It's a

set piece event in the British calendar, but I think it was, to an extent, overshadowed by what's been going on behind the scenes.

And there was a moment that I want to bring you, Becky, in that speech where black rod, who is an official who is tasked with summoning the

members of the House of Commons to the state opening the official opening of parliament, banged on the door of the House of Commons. Take a look at

what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Close the door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not now, Andy -- Black rod.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Not now, Andy. The voice there, we believe, of a Labor Member of Parliament, a reference to Andy Burnham, who is currently the mayor of

Manchester, but also seen as a potential challenger to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, if he is able to find a way to get reelected back into parliament.

So, I think you can see really how much this is playing out behind the scenes. And just to step back a minute, less than two years from this, the

general election that brought Labor and Keir Starmer into power with a landslide, and now we're at a point where the chaos that they promised to

stop, where we saw multiple prime ministers in quick succession under the previous conservative government, that same chaos seems to be coming back

to the fore.

And the legislative priorities that the king set out in that government speech today. Well, it's really not clear at this point who is going to be

the leader who is going to deliver them.

ANDERSON: And when you listen to what was laid out by the king, was there a set of ideas, you know, a suite of legislation that is likely to do

anything to enhance the UK economy and make people feel like this government is in better control. They were trounced in local elections

recently a resounding, you know, voice by the UK public, who said, you know, Labor isn't working.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah, look Becky. I think at this point there is a serious question around whether or not Keir Starmer can do anything, can announce

any specific legislation that would turn the tide when it comes to his own popularity.

[09:25:00]

The speech was focused around making Britain stronger and fairer in there were lots of economic policies announced. There were policies relating to

international affairs, where the prime minister is seen to be on stronger footing, frankly, than he has domestically.

And there was a pledge to sort of move faster and to make the kind of change that was promised when they were elected. But the economy is on

unstable footing, and that perhaps plays into the prime minister's footing, a little bit into his favor, a little bit, because those MPs who have come

out this week and signed on to this letter saying, please not now, this is not the time for a leadership race, are citing that instability.

And frankly, the bond markets here are also sending a message when that report came out earlier that the Health Secretary Wes Streeting might be

preparing to resign and launch his own bid for the leadership. Bond yields spiked again. The risk in the market, as they see it, of this chaos and of

potentially a new leader coming in, who may borrow more money to complete this legislative agenda that is not to be trifled with when it comes to

those bond markets.

ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely stormy times in Labor politics, a miserable, stormy day, it seems, in London as well. Well done. Thanks for fighting the

elements for us. Clare Sebastian outside number 10. All right, U.S. stocks about to open with investors likely to focus on the upcoming meeting

between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart will be back with the opening bell this Wednesday session, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi for you. You're watching "Connect the World". These your headlines this hour. And U.S.

President Donald Trump has arrived in China for a high stakes summit with the Chinese Leader Xi Jinping. The two are expected to talk about the war

in Iran when they meet on Thursday before leaving Washington.

President Trump said he doesn't need China's help in ending the conflict. Well Senior Pentagon Official says the war has now cost the U.S. $29

billion so far. That estimate is $4 billion higher than the figure provided by the Defense Department just two weeks ago.

Public policy expert told CNN the conflict could cost U.S. taxpayers at least a trillion dollars. Well Britain's leadership crisis could be ramping

up. UK media reporting that a member of Keir Starmer's Cabinet Health Secretary, Wes Streeting is getting ready to resign, and that might trigger

a leadership contest.

The British Prime Minister is fighting to stay in power in the face of calls for him to step down.

[09:30:00]

Right, let's get you to the opening bell on Wall Street. And its global medical response so ringing the opening bell today the indication certainly

from the futures market are these markets for open mix. Perhaps not surprisingly, Donald Trump sort of suggesting the market should watch this

space over the next 72 hours while he is in China.

Well, let's see, and perhaps investors heeding that advice and sitting it out, that's certainly what it felt like when I took a look at the futures

market. And let's get you the very early moves on the DOW JONES, not an awful lot going on there. I mean, we'll keep an eye on that, and we'll get

you the other two markets.

Once these settle down, the global economic crisis will dominate discussions between the leaders of the two biggest economies, of course,

when they meet, it will also dominate discussions between emerging economies with the BRICS Foreign Ministers also meeting on Thursday.

Iran's Foreign Minister will be among them. Its own ability to export oil is being strangled somewhat by Washington's naval blockade. My next guest

writes that the U.S. blockade will create limitations for Tehran due to a decline in export revenues, but he also warns that quote, Iran is a high

threshold for pain, and that this pressure instrument will not lead to capitulation.

Well, Bijan Khajehpour is Managing Director, sorry, Managing Editor at Eurasian Nexus Partners. He joins me now from Vienna in Austria. Bijan,

it's good to have you with us. Thank you so much. Let's start with that quote.

BIJAN KHAJEHPOUR, MANAGING PARTNER AT EURASIAN NEXUS PARTNERS: Thank you --

ANDERSON: Can you further explain?

KHAJEHPOUR: Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to realize that Iran is not, you know, Iran has been a war economy for almost a decade, basically

since the first wave of maximum pressure started in 2018 and the Iranian economy, or the Iranian leadership, developed what they call the economy of

resistance, or the economy of resilience, and developed various instruments to withstand external pressure.

Well, the external pressure in before the military confrontation started, took shape in the form of sanctions and pressure on trading partners.

ANDERSON: Right.

KHAJEHPOUR: But obviously in the recent two episodes of military confrontation, they have come in the form of blockade and military attacks.

And Iran is sort of able to show resilience, even though it has impacts, very severe impacts, but it's more resilient than the external observers --

ANDERSON: Right. So, the Iran war has cost the U.S. at least 29 billion so far. That is what we are hearing from the Pentagon, some suggesting the

number could be an awful lot higher. What's your assessment of the war cost on Iran's economy?

KHAJEHPOUR: Well, I mean, the Iranian government has also produced the figure in terms of damages, especially physical damages, and it is

somewhere between 250 billion and $300 billion but I think the medium, to long term costs will be much higher. There are obviously psychological

costs.

There are, you know, consequences, both economic, but also other consequences of the various disruptions that have emerged. Then we know

that there are, for example, the current inability to export oil to a level that Iran was exporting before the war is creating budget deficits and

other disruptions, financial disruptions in the economy.

ANDERSON: Huge. That's a huge. Let's just talk about that, that oil revenue, which is significantly hampered. Let's be quite frank. There can

be no doubt about that from this blockade. I mean, how significant is that loss?

KHAJEHPOUR: It is very significant on the fiscal dimension, meaning that Iran cannot materialize its oil revenues, or export revenues, the most

important hard currency revenues for the Iranian economy. It is not as significant in terms of physical pressure on the oil production and oils

wells.

[09:35:00]

I think if you listen to especially some American commentators, when the blockade started, they were predicting that Iran's oil wells are going to

explode and so on. Well, that's not happening. Iran is used to this type of management of oil production, but the key negative consequence is non

realization of export revenues, which leads to budget deficits, which leads to inflation and other economic hills.

And those disruptions and those imbalances, as the Iranian government calls them, are causing a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in the Iranian economy.

ANDERSON: Iran's Foreign Minister is off to the BRICS meeting in India. I wonder what level of pressure might the block of countries there exert on

Iran to find a common ground with the U.S. It has to be said, if there is no common ground, I'm hearing in this region, that there is, you know, a

real sense that there could be some serious escalation once again within the month should Iran not cave to some of these sort of, you know, some of

these sort of positions by the U.S. So, what do you think might be said and achieved in India?

KHAJEHPOUR: I think more than BRICS members trying to put pressure on Iran. We should expect Iran trying to get political backing and some sort of a

cooperation from the BRICS members to address the issues that it has in the economy. I just mentioned some of the imbalances, but obviously Iran, being

on the severe sanctions, needs a lot of support from the members of BRICS.

And one interesting element, and I think this would be one of the topics that Minister Araghchi will discuss it.

ANDERSON: Right. Understood.

KHAJEHPOUR: -- is bilateral --

ANDERSON: Bijan, I have to leave it, because we got some breaking news coming into CNN. It's good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed.

We'll talk again. Some breaking news here. News just coming in from the Philippines. Gunshots have been heard in the Senate building in Manila.

This happened during a chaotic attempt to arrest a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court. Now it is unclear who fired the shots. Here

is the President of the Senate, obviously rattled shortly after the shots rang out. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN PETER CAYETANO, PHILIPPINE SENATE PRESIDENT: What is happening? NBI, what is happening? Why are we under attack here? I don't know what's

happening, but I do not know if I can keep my people safe here. I'm willing to go out. I'm willing to face anyone who is going to serve the warrant or

do whatever I told you, you're welcome to serve, but do not do this.

So please help us. Please let us know what is happening here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, there's still a lot of confusion over the details. We are, of course, following this closely, and we'll get you more information as it

comes into CNN. Let's take a very quick break back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Kim Eun Sook is one of Korea's most prolific screen writers, responsible for series like "The Glory" and "Mr. Sunshine" will for the

latest edition of CNN's "K-Everything" series. She sat down with Daniel Dae Kim to explain the art of creating a compelling love story. Have a look at

this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DAE KIM, HOST OF K-EVERYTHING: What is the secret to a good love story?

KIM EUN-SOOK, SCREENWRITER: Methodologically, it's about connecting good characters. A man with a certain conviction, a woman with a certain

conviction. How the male and female protagonists overcome adversity, make sacrifices, face pain, but ultimately, the journey to the kiss in the final

scene, that's all there is to it.

It's all about writing that in a fun and fresh way.

KIM: Only a kiss. Korean dramas are very innocent that way. Even holding hands is a big deal, right? So, if you kiss that's the happy ending.

EUN-SOOK: After about three days, a kiss scene will appear.

KIM: I see there's a time frame. I see.

EUN-SOOK: Before, kissing was only allowed at the ending, as if legally mandated, but now I've pushed it a bit earlier, so Koreans now accept

kissing after three episodes or so. After building up emotions.

KIM (voice-over): The popularity of K-Drama stories has been translating to audiences outside of Korea since the mid-1990s. With hits like Winter

Sonata and What is love. In places like the U.S., Australia and the Middle East. Kim shows the glory was in the top 10 most watched Netflix series

with over 600 million hours of viewing in 2023. All of that in just three decades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're finally here. It took you a while.

KIM: You told me a secret before. Tell me the secret of why Korean culture is where it is now.

EUN-SOOK: Working hard. People with talent can do things quickly. So, that's a certain Korean nature or tenacity. We're a people who always like

to have laughter around us. It's in our blood. I think that's why we've reached a point where we laugh among ourselves and make the world laugh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And you can stream the full series on CNN All Access and on HBO Max. "World Sport" is up next. And you've got another hour of "Connect the

World" with me Becky Anderson at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END