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Investigation into MetroJet Flight 9268 Crash; Yazidis Join Fight to Drive ISIS out of Iraq; Turkey Prepares for Elections; Yemen Braces for Cyclone; China Unveils First Homemade Passenger Plane; New Dance Craze Lures Visitors to South Korea. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 02, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, ahead this hour the baby girl, now the face of a tragedy, her body and dozens of others flown back to Russia after their flight broke apart over the Egyptian dessert.

Terrorized by ISIS and now ready to fight back the Yazidi men forced to flee their home and Iraq about to go on the offensive to reclaim their city from the brutal Islamic militants.

And Yemen braces for a natural disaster where a cyclone heading their war weary country into dumping a years worth of rain in just days.

Hello and welcome everybody, wherever you are all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. begins now.

VAUSE: And we'll begin with a homecoming which was not meant to be like this. Some of the passengers who died on Metrojet Flight 9268 now back in St. Petersburg. Russian state media reports a plane carrying 144 bodies touched down just a short time ago. St. Petersburg was going to be final destination for the flight which crushed Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula. Investigators say the plane broke apart in mid-air but they don't know why, this new information though little comfort for the families of the 224 passengers and crew who died when that plane came down.

For the very latest we have Ian Lee standing by in Cairo, also Nic Robertson live this hour in St. Petersburg, we'll go to Ian. So, Ian, what is the very latest on the recovery and the search efforts at the scene of the crash?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they're still looking for bodies out there, right now we're hearing from Egyptian state media that 187 bodies have been recovered, they're in Cairo, they're going through the identification process of the ones that are still here, they're are also going to be looking out at the scene of the crash where any more clues that could lead to what caused this plane to come down, we heard from the Russian officials that it broke up in the air, Egyptian officials further time have always been saying that this seems to be a mechanical issue, ruling out any foul play. Now this plane had in incident back in 2001 where the tail hit the runway, that's something that they're going to be looking into.

But this goes along the line of what we're hearing from the co-pilot's ex-wife, take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): My daughter had a telephone chat with him just before the flight, he complained before the flight that one could wish for better technical condition of the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Well an Egypt civil aviation minister had said that before this flight took off that the pilot hadn't alerted anyone to any issues that they found and it passed a routine check, so these are all thing that they're going to be looking for when going through this wreckage. Also those black boxes we're hearing a team from Ireland is going to comment and help them with that as well. So, still a lot of questions remain, really trying to figure out what happened in those final moments.

VAUSE: A lot of questions yet to be answered, Ian stay with us, St. Petersburg. We are now learning a little more about some of the passengers who were onboard this flight as those bodies arrive back there in St. Petersburg, what can you tell us Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the first of the bodies have now been moved to the airport to a nearby crematorium which is where the families will begin to be taken to identify in the families, who remember (ph) hotel close to the airport, they'll be driven from their bike up (ph) med officials to begin that identification process. But the youngest passenger to die aboard that aircraft is a 10-month old girl, Tania Gromova. And, although you can't see from where we're standing right now, there were candles over there just beside me and there were picture of her photographs of her (inaudible) has now before iconic for small trial standing with a hand on a glass window, looking out at the aircraft of the photograph taken from behind shortly before she was due to travel.

We've been talking, we've heard from various family members as they've arrived here to become to become this difficult process of identification. And, her government officials are here ready to help them, but these are some of the things that they've been telling us.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I watched where the plane was on, a radar, on the internet, everything looked normal, I came here around 11:30 but the plane didn't appear anywhere on the information screens.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (through translation): Yesterday my son called and said that the plane was landing around 11:40. He was on holiday with his family, a 10-month-old daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:00] ROBERTSON: So this identification process is expected to take quite a period of time obviously, a lot of families 144 bodies so far recovered and brought back today, more are expected, and also today we're expecting the press conference to be given in Moscow in coming hours, a press conference given by the airline metro jet. We're not sure what they're going -- what issues they're going to address at this stage but they are expected to at least give a first analysis from their perspective, obviously questions have been raised so far about the air worthiness of this aircraft, about the crashes that the airline has had in recent years. So, perhaps we may get more details on that, we'll wait and see. John?

VAUSE: Nic, it seems this tragedy is being felt acutely not just here in St. Petersburg but all across Russia.

It's being felt very widely, I mean we witness it here at the airport where every few minutes, people come out and need more flowers, an entire football team emerged from the airport a few minutes ago, there were people here now come to lay flowers, come to take photographs, come for a moment of silent personal prayer, I see a man approaching with a couple of coronations. And one of the things that you see here towards the back now is this pile of flowers grows and grows are a lot of toys that are being laid here.

The reason for that is that there were children like 10-month old Tania onboard this aircraft but there's a also a growing realization here, there were quite a lot of parents that went on vacation to Egypt together leaving their children with relatives. So, this is left a large number of orphans now. Nobody has put a figure to that number at the moment, but there was a - there was gather of people in St. Petersburg late last night, they stood with lights and spelt out the word "Mom" on the ground because there was just this connection for people here knowing that perhaps it could have been them, knowing that this is a terrible tragedy for the children.

And as you say not just St. Petersburg, it's Moscow, it's across the country, people are onboard this aircraft, most of them from St. Petersburg but from -- we're told 13 other regions across the country as well John.

VAUSE: And of course Nic, people are wanting answers, they have a lot of questions as to what happen, and with that we go to Ian in Cairo. Ian how will the Egyptian and Russian authorities be handling this investigation as it moves forward?

LEE: Oh we were told that this investigation will be rigorous, that it could be while before they figure out exactly what happens, but they said they want to get it right. We know that Egypt, Egyptian officials, Russian officials are on the ground, they're searching for clues, and this is a large area, this is over 20 square kilometers that they're searching over, as this plane did break up in the air. So, they want to make sure that they have every piece, every little bit of evidence that comes to a solid conclusion and they say that could take some time. What - they are bringing in other experts, they have a team from Air Bus which is also here, they're going to be helping out in this effort. So, the Egyptians are wanting to give the impression that they're in control of this, and with this operation going forward we're expecting more information and more bodies. We need to point out that about 40 bodies are still out in the desert, still uncounted for. So, they're still somewhat recovery effort going on as well this morning.

VAUSE: OK. Ian Lee, live with us in Cairo, Nic Robertson also live in St. Petersburg with some very grim duty for both of you, we thank you for that.

We also want to get more on the story. Our military analyst Rick Francona is also standing by, he is in Oregon. And also in Albuquerque, New Mexico Dr. Alan Diehl, Dr. Diehl is a former NTSB crash investor, FAA and USAF, air safety investigators using science to save lives, one crash at a time.

Thank you both for being with us, Rick I would I would like to start with you. Let's talk a little more about this part of the Sinai Dessert, this is a dangerous part of the world, there's a lot of Islamic extremism going on there, there's also been warnings for commercial jets which pas s over this part of the world. So how dangerous is it and how dangerous is it right now for investigators on the ground?

LT. GEN. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, let's just -- a second part firstly, I don't think the investigators are any danger there because, when this happened the Egyptian forces moved in there with such for that, I don't think the militants are going to mess around with them, because they were like the plan and operations if they were going to do it, attacking the Egyptian military where into such force probably not a good idea.

[00:10:00] So I think the investigators are probably OK there.

Now as to this part of the world -- and you're right, the Sinai is a dangerous place, it's been very dangerous since 2011 when there was a militancy that started there, it got much worse after the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi as the president and Sisi took over. A lot of the people are the supported Muslim brotherhood moved to the Sinai and they become much more involved in the violence there. And then just last year as you know, they swore allegiance to ISIS. So now we've got an ISIS province declared itself into Sinai, well they've been quite active and they got a lot of weaponry, a lot of training and obviously an ongoing insurgency for at least three years.

VAUSE: OK, we'll get to the (inaudible) when it comes to anti- aircraft reference (ph) in a moment, but let's go Alan. Officials are saying the fuselage of this plane disintegrated mid-air, what are the possible causes for that because there's some speculation maybe there was bomb onboard, you know, that an ISIS group has claimed responsibility for shooting this plane with some kind of missile, what's your take? ALAN DIEHL, FMR. NTSB CRASH INVESTOR: Well, it certainly could be any kind of explosive device or a missile. But there is also other possibilities, the aircraft do break up in flight if they're overstressed. And, what we know is they were climbing through 31,000 feet, there was data streaming that has been released, now this is not Egyptian ground radar, this is an onboard data link system that said they climbed a couple thousand feet then descended a few thousand feet, climbed back and then climbed five miles before they lost the data link at about 500 feet above the ground level.

Now, and from the description of the wreckage pattern, John it sounds to me like the plan probably broke up closer to 5,000 feet than 31,000 feet. So, it sounds to me like it may will be -- the final distraction may have been due to aerodynamic forces or some other type of g-forces as oppose to a very large explosive device ala Malaysia flight 14.

VAUSE: Yes, and so, Colonel Francona, piece together (inaudible) ISIS capabilities because they made -- they're claiming responsibility that they shot this plane down. But -- as Alan was saying, the plane was at 31,000 feed so is this even possible?

FRANCONA: Not with the group that we have in the Sinai operating there. We do know that they have the man pods, the man portable air defense system, the shoulder-fire rockets, the heat-seekers if you will. They've got those, they used them effectively, they've been able to down two Egyptian helicopters. But to take a commercial airliner down at that altitude just isn't possible with what they have, these systems top at about 14,000 feet. So the only way you would shot a commercial airliner down is in that transition from takeoff to flight and from the flight level down to landing.

So, they don't have the kind of weaponry that we saw in Ukraine that brought down the Malaysian flight. So, I don't think we're looking at a service-to-air missile here. I do they released a video, they showed a video but that aircraft was certainly much slower than 31,000 feet.

VAUSE: So how often do these groups like ISIS, you know, ISIS-lead groups put out these spurious claims that really they -- or they have (ph) a claim to I guess, that they make a lot of sense.

DIEHL: Well, they're very optimistic, we've seen this in other instance where an incident will happen and they'll immediately take credit for it, whether or not they were involved or not. You know the one that everybody remembers is the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris. They did claim these they're responsible for that, it turned to be -- there was a slight affiliation within al-Qaeda group and then later on they did attract some of the Hebdo shooters. But, it's just an opportunistic thing and I think we have to see that they've also claimed responsibility for attacks in the state. So, I think that we can expect that from ISIS.

VAUSE: Sure. Hey Alan the Russian has to be very quick to this, this terrorism, will we know for certain what exactly happen when they get the black boxes downloaded and look at that information. Or will the wreckage or the group be far more important in an instance like this?

DIEHL: Well, clearly the recorders should tell the story. And what's so interning John and Rick is that they -- they Co (ph) apparently said they had a technical problem, you know, that I would think if they have been hit by some kind of explosive they might have said and it could even heave heard it on the microphones so that they air traffic control takes will be kind of interesting, but the recorders, the onboard recorders should tell the story. Now of course, if it does look like this is some kind of terrorism then the wreckage will be key and people with Rick's expertise will be called in to look at the stifling and the patterns of explosives that we saw in the Ukraine in the Malaysia flight.

But, at this point, I think the recorders are likely within hopefully several days to reveal at least basically what appears to have happen, of course the investigation will go on for months and probably up to a year before they reach a final conclusion.

[00:15:14] VAUSE: OK, Dr. Alan Diehl, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, both experts on your field, we appreciate you being with us, thank you for you both.

DIEHL: Thanks John.

VAUSE: Well a surprise comeback for Turkey's president and this justice and development party. They won an upright majority in snap elections on Sunday, the party lost that majority back in June but now the country's prime minister is urging Turkey's political parties to work together on a new constitution. The win will help Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tighten his group on power. It comes after last month's suicide bombing which killed more as 100 people in Ankara.

Well for more on Turkey's election we're joined now by CNN Turk Reporter Busha Aslantis (ph) and she joins us on the line from Ankara.

So Busha (ph), give the opinion polls that up to this verdict (ph), it seems that this is a stunning result of President Erdogan and hi AKP party, how did he do it?

BUSHA ASLANTIS (PH), CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh yes John, it's true that there's also -- the vote came as a surprise to most people. And, actually this is a key question how apart he did that, what happens in the last past month heard (ph) about such a different result on political landscape, so these are the key questions and one is -- and will be discussing today and upcoming days, an effort that will change according to who you talk to, because, for example for -- according to some -- also show, say that, pending together in this result, and when we check the newspapers columns today, asking one point of view, do these people became annoyed with growing instability in the country in recent months, and the protocol and (inaudible) in the last past months we called it, that memory is after 1990s during -- which strictly have to be moved by unsuccessful coalition government.

Another point is that, that is just influence (ph) is that, treaty were dropped, were two major treaty dropped in the (inaudible) you remember one of which in July and the other in October a few days ago. So, as (inaudible), and like that so, PKK's violent acts against the Turkish army and the police added additional deservant to the Turkish public opinion, the Turkish army having most (ph) the engagement against the terrorist have added additional support from the -- especially nationwide explaining to the needs of Turkey and some H.P. (ph), national party voters will happen to see government where getting also this also PKK heart which broke the -- in fact the ceasefire of three years and received a tax after the June 7th election.

Then, according to some other comments today, the church has taken back their support from HDP (ph) for the AKP (ph) due to their disturbance with PKK-led efforts to create conflict (ph). And so (inaudible) these regions in the South Eastern (inaudible) region...

(OFF-MIC)

... and President Erdogan during his campaign period when he compared the June 7th election campaign are the key other factors some in Turkey, I mean at least these are the point, (inaudible) stressed today.

VAUSE: Busha (ph), we appreciate you being with us, thank you for the update. Busha Aslantis (ph) said with the CNN Turk like in Ankara. A short break here, but when we come back, debating the debates, Republicans running for president aren't happy the rules, the format, the questions, the moderators, even their own party. We'll tell you what they want when we come back. Also head, a powerful cyclone heading for Yemen devastated by war braces for natural disaster.

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VAUSE: There is a revolt underway among the Republican candidates with President and it's a revolt against their own party. Representatives from all the campaigns hallowed in Washington Sunday night to decide on new rules for the future presidential candidate debates and they shot at leaders from the Republican National Committee.

The contenders are especially angry over last week's debate hosted by CNBC. They say like substance was filled with got you questions. The Washington meeting was organized by Dr. Ben Carlson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should have moderators who are interested in disseminating the information about the candidates as opposed to, you know, got you, you did this, and we're defenders of on that, you know.

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VAUSE: Key changes agreed to by the campaign, a two-hour debates where each candidate gets 30 seconds for opening and closing statements equals speaking time for all candidates but they did not agree on having all candidates on the main debates stage or splitting into random groups. They plan to send their demands to networks this week without input from the Republican National Committee.

If you know that sound, chances are you know Fred Thompson, he played Arthur Branch, the graft no non-sense D.A. on the TV show Law & Order and he passed away on Sunday. When he wasn't a famous actor, Fred Thompson was a twice elected senator from Tennessee. He was a Republican who briefly campaigned for the presidency back in 2008 and he at least had experience of playing the role of president in a T.V. movie at least once. His family says he died from the recurrence of lymphoma which he's been battling for about a decade. Fred Thompson was 73-years-old.

An unusually powerful cyclone is barrowing towards Yemen and Oman, it's called Chapala and it's the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, expected to weaken some but still the region doesn't often deal with rain and wind like this and the storm could hit right in the heart of al-Qaeda territory, an area which has been wrecked by civil war.

[00:25:00] Let's get the very latest down the storm. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar standing by with all the details. Hey, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And hello to you, yes, we take a look at the latest that we have on the storm. I want to point out again this is a very impressive storm, the second stronger tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Arabian Sea. Here are some other impressive storms. We had Gonu just recently back in June of 2007, max winds about 270 kilometers per hour, so notice we really don't like talking about a 20 kilometer per hour difference between the two storms.

Now, this one will have more of an impact on Yemen and Oman versus Gonu which had a little bit more of an impact in the United Arab Emirates and a little bit of Iran. And then this other storm again just slightly below, so very impressive storms in terms of where this is, but the topography is what it's going to play a big role. Take a look beneath me and we'll kind of explain a little bit more about that.

Now, what you see below me is the map of this general. You can see the storm as it's edging closer to Yemen and Oman, already starting to see some of the outer bands affecting Oman at this point in time.

Now, looking at the track of the particular storm, you'll notice it begins to come right up to through central Yemen but it's going t hit the very mountainous terrain that is right there along the coast and that's going to have big impacts in terms of the rain because once it finally slides up here, all of this terrain that you can see right through here, this high mountains are going to break apart the storm and the dry air that sits behind them is really going to suck a lot of them moisture out of the storm that's why we expect it to not really intensify but rather we can very quickly as it begins to make landfall.

So, let's take a look at what we have in terms of the forecast. Again, here is the look at where the storm is expected to go up through Yemen. It's going to encounter all of that dry air on the other side of those mountains and that's really going to weaken the storm very quickly. It does not have much of a chance once it finally makes landfall, could become the strongest storm on record in the Arabian Sea more specifically in terms of Yemen and we're talking John three to four years worth of rain in Yemen in just a 24 hour time period, so very impressive amounts of rain expected with the storm.

VAUSE: Well, that is a lot of rain for a region which does not get a lot of train at any one time. Allison, we'll keep a close eye on that. Thank you.

As you'll break here on CNN, when we come back, ISIS murdered their families, destroyed their homes, and now Iran cities are fighting back. Also ahead, a deadly hotel siege in Somalia, few details on what was a complex attack. We'll have more details about the militants behind.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Welcome back, everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. The headlines this hour.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Investigators now say the Russian passenger jet that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula Saturday came apart in midair. The new detail helps narrow what could have caused the crash. But officials stress it's still too soon to say what brought the plane down, killing all 224 people on board.

In a stunning electoral comeback, the Turkish president's Justice and Development Party is claiming victory in snap parliamentary elections held on Sunday. The country's prime minister calls the result a victory for democracy. It's Turkey's second vote in just five months.

Al-Shabaab militants killed at least 15 people Sunday at a popular hotel in Mogadishu in Somalia. Authorities say many of the dead are civilians. Police say some government officials use the hotel as residence. Gunmen stormed the hotel after setting off a series of attacks, including a suicide car bomb.

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VAUSE: Al Qaeda's leader is calling on Muslim supporters to unite against the West and Russia in Syria and Iraq. It's not the first time he's pushed for more unity between Al Qaeda and ISIS.

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VAUSE (voice-over): In an audio recording released online and reported by Reuters, Ayman al-Zawahiri says a unified front is crucial fight what he calls the satanic alliance that is aggressing against Islam.

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA (through translator): The Americans, Russians, Iranians, Alawites and Hezbollah are coordinating their war against us.

Are we not capable of stopping the fighting amongst ourselves so we can direct all our efforts against them?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's not clear exactly when the recording was made. But references to Russia suggest it was made after Moscow began air raids in Syria in late September.

ISIS forces have seized a key town in Syria's southwestern Homs province. That's according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group says some 50 regime fights were killed or wounded.

The takeover means the militants are 20 kilometers from the highway connecting the capital of Damascus with other main cities, including Homs. Syrian state media has not reported the attack.

Some Syrian rebels accused of putting captives in metal cages and using them as human shields in an attempt to stop government air raids.

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VAUSE (voice-over): The video posted online by an opposition media outlet appears to show these people in cages being driven on the backs of pickup trucks.

The Reuters News Agency obtained the video but has not been able to verify the footage. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says residents told them the human shields were military officers as well as their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: U.S. forces are intensifying airstrikes on the ISIS stronghold of Sinjar in Iraq; added a ground offensive off to retake the city.

When militants took the town over a year ago, hundreds from the Yazidi religious minority were killed. Thousands of others were forced to run for their lives. Now Yazidi men have joined the battle to drive ISIS out. And they spoke exclusively to CNN's Nima Elbagir.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Yazidi Peshmerga fighters, volunteers, former soldiers and a handful of trained officers, looking out over the ISIS front line.

He is pointing out to us all along here. You can see the defensive ditches that have been dug. He said they come as close as that valley, just there. They mortar, they fire on us. They eventually retreat. But it's pretty never-ending.

This vantage point itself was in the not-too-distant past ISIS-held.

ELBAGIR: "Just there" he said, "you can see what they did to the Yazidis, the houses are completely destroyed.

[00:35:00]

ELBAGIR: They slaughtered all the families inside it. Really drives home how visceral this was.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Deputy commander Mak Kazidu (ph) is 66, he's a retired soldier, one of the few here with fighting experience.

This is a fragment of skull that they found. This whole patch of ground is mass graves, said they found about 150 bodies from children as young as 1 year old all the way up to 80.

It is, they say, just a reminder to them of what it is they're fighting for. They're fighting for their very survival.

The massacre of thousands of Yazidi men, women and children by ISIS last year resonated around the world. Here in the foothills of the Sinjar Mountain, thousands of Yazidi volunteers in are joining up to fight.

Sinjar City and the mountain that looms over it is at the heart of the homeland of the Yazidi minority. It falls along a crucial supply route, linking ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

When ISIS took the city, August last year, their intent was to drive the Yazidis to extinction.

Those who managed to escape the ensuing massacre now shelter in tarpaulin tents on barren slopes, overlooking their former homes. These are the families of the fighters, standing guard down below. This is what they're fighting for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

ELBAGIR (voice-over): At the front, a poem is being recited. It speaks of lost honor, slaughtered wives and sisters, empty homes. It is meant to remind the soldiers of what's at stake. They tell us they know only too well, this is a battle for their very existence -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Mt. Sinjar.

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VAUSE: And we had this just in to CNN. They are celebrating right now in Kansas City after the Kansas City Royals are the World Series champions. They took the Series from the New York Mets. This game went to the 11th inning, the Royals taking it 7-2, wrapping it up, four games to one.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Again, these two expansion teams, the first time in a World Series, the Royals 7, the Mets 2. Kansas City Royals World Series champions, we'll have more on that when we come back. And they're having a blast.

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VAUSE: China has just unveiled its first homemade large passenger jet. There it is, the C919 was rolled out in Shanghai, set to rival some similar models made by Airbus and Boeing.

The aircraft will take its maiden flight next year followed by another three years of testing before it actually goes into commercial use. The plane's manufacturer says they have already received more than 500 orders for the Chinese-made commercial airliner.

So if you have mastered Gangnam style -- and let's face it, who hasn't? Get ready to learn some new moves. There's a new dance and it has people flocking to South Korea. And as Kathy Novak found out, learning the grooves and the moves to K-pop isn't easy.

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KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I say K-pop and you are still thinking this, you should know Gangnam style was so three years ago.

Now it's all about EXO.

And if you want to master these moves, come to the place where the stars rehearse and learn from a real K-pop instructor.

This is serious business. And some people have clearly been practicing.

Me, not so much. I'm not the only foreigner trying to follow along. Katya Krichko came all the way from Latvia.

KATYA KRICHKO, LATVIAN K-POP ENTHUSIAST: I have been into K-pop like six years. So, finally here, finally my dream came true.

NOVAK (voice-over): And Marcus Paige is representing the U.S. state of Virginia. MARCUS PAIGE, AMERICAN K-POP ENTHUSIAST: it's really surprising how many people like in my state know who this group is.

NOVAK (voice-over): And that is music to the ears of Seoul City government, which has partnered with the entertainment company SM to offer free classes to foreigners in the hopes it will lure more tourists.

K-pop is a huge cultural export along with TV dramas and Korean food like kimchi, they're known as the Korean Wave.

And the city has found 30 percent of foreign tourists are visiting because they want to ride that wave.

"Korean Wave tourists tend to stay longer than other visitors," says Kim Jay Jong (ph), "and they return to South Korea more often than other tourists."

Plenty of time, then, to get this right.

NOVAK: I cannot do it. I really can't. It's too hard.

NOVAK (voice-over): Perhaps it's best left to the experts -- Kathy Novak, CNN, Seoul.

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VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'll be back in another 15 minutes from now with all the news from around the word.

But in the meantime a live edition of "WORLD SPORT" with Patrick Snell and he will have all the details on that stunning win by the Kansas City Royals. They won 7-2, game five to be World Series champions, beating the New York Mets, 12 innings this game went to. It was a shellacking in the end. Patrick will have all the details. Please stay with us.

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