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U.S. Expected to Announce Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough; BTS's Jin Begins Mandatory Military Service in South Korea; Ukraine Trying to Protect Power Grid from Attacks; European Parliament Lawmaker under Investigation. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 13, 2022 - 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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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the failed CEO of the cryptocurrency FTX under arrest in the Bahamas and facing multiple charges by U.S. prosecutors.

Nuclear breakthrough, scientists in the U.S. to announce a major step toward the holy grail of clean energy.

And reporting for duty, the oldest member of the Korean boy band BTS heads to boot camp and 18 months of compulsory military service.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: In the coming, hours the founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is expected to appear in a Bahamas courtroom at the request of U.S. law enforcement. More details are expected on Tuesday when a federal prosecutor in New York opens a sealed indictment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced separate charges against Sam Bankman-Fried and will be filed Tuesday. FTX filed for bankruptcy over a month ago and many are surprised at the speed the U.S. authorities have brought charges against him, who likely faces extradition back to the U.S.

He was living in the island nation which had become the base of operations for the company he founded. For more I'm joined by Ivan Watson, covering the story from Hong Kong, he was based there for a little while.

What do we know about the arrest, what are the charges he's facing?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of law enforcement agencies that basically want Sam Bankman-Fried's head. The Royal Bahamas Police said they arrested him linked to various financial offenses, both against the laws of the Bahamas and the U.S. The attorney general there said the arrest was made because they are

expecting an extradition request coming from the U.S. and that the authorities there are likely going to cooperate quickly with that.

That was then followed up by the Southern District of New York, which put out this statement via Twitter, saying -- confirming the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York.

"We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and we'll have more to say at that time."

That tweet was then followed up by a statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which commended the law enforcement parties for arresting Sam Bankman-Fried on criminal charges.

And it is authorizing separate charges relating to his, quote, "violations of security laws," to be filed tomorrow in the Southern District of New York.

This comes on the eve, the arrest, of when Bankman-Fried was expected to be testifying in front of Congress.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said that she was surprised and disappointed by the arrest, because she says creditors and customers wanted to hear about how their money basically got lost by this company that had been estimated to be worth some $32 billion not too long ago.

And she said that the American public deserves to hear from this individual. As it goes out, the new CEO, who has been put in place to save what's left of FTX, is going to be testifying in front of Congress. And I'm looking at his testimony, his written testimony here, where he has experience in working with other companies that have collapsed in scandal and bankruptcy like Enron.

And he writes, "Never in my career have I seen such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization. FTX group's collapse appears to stem from the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals."

Bankman-Fried has been very public in recent weeks since he lost his position as the CEO of FTX.

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WATSON: And he's been repeatedly asked whether he thinks he committed crimes. Take a listen to what he said at a "New York Times" conference a little bit more -- less than two weeks ago.

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SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, FORMER CEO, FTX: Anyway, I've had a bad month. It has not been (INAUDIBLE). But that's not what matters here. Like what matters here is that millions of customers, what matters here is all the stakeholders in FTX who got hurt and trying to do everything I can to help them out.

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WATSON: Bankman-Fried said he didn't knowingly commit fraud but he is embarrassed at how his company, his former company, was managed -- John.

VAUSE: Embarrassed, to say the least. Ivan Watson, live there for us in Hong Kong, we appreciate it.

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VAUSE: With us now from Washington is Professor Eswar Prasad of Brookings, chair of international economics. Thank you for being with us.

ESWAR PRASAD, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: My pleasure.

VAUSE: So when many cryptocurrency traders hit earlier this year, Bankman-Fried was there as a white knight. In June, he extended $250 million in credit to block fine. At the time tweeting, we take our duty seriously to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers.

Now that the man who is seen as the guru of crypto is arrested, what does it mean for confidence in cryptocurrencies?

PRASAD: He was certainly seen as a linchpin of the crypto industry because you might say the value of the crypto assets, including the crypto currencies like bitcoin, might rise and fall.

Something like FTX, which Sam Bankman-Fried set up and managed, that could be a safe place to keep financial assets, crypto assets, and also trade them in a safe manner.

So it does sound like even that was built on very fragile foundations. And what we found is many investors who invested their money into this exchange got taken in by the razzle-dazzle of the new technology and did not realize it was built on very shaky foundations.

And basically they did not do the due diligence that you would expect any investment firm to take.

VAUSE: SBF, who was expected at Capitol Hill -- he won't be; a man who took his place as the CEO at FTX will -- according to prepared statements, in his opening remark, John Ray will tell the House Financial Services Committee, "Never in my career have I seen such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of our organization.

"From the lack of financial statements to complete failure of any internal controls or governance whatsoever."

So you touched on this, is cryptocurrency looking more and more like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, ultimately brought down by the same old financial wrongdoings?

PRASAD: I think it's a combination of greed, hubris and sheer incompetence that play here. Certainly the notion that a cryptocurrency like bitcoin and many of the other cryptocurrencies that have no intrinsic value may somehow maintain value just because they're built on and maintained by a very cool technology.

Other currencies like the dollar which can be printed in infinite quantities like a central bank like the Fed. So that seems to have been put to the test and it has failed the test. It was thought that perhaps the scarcity of crypto assets would make them relatively good.

That has not borne out very well. So I think the reality of seeing it as the financial foundations of this entire edifice were really very weak to begin with. Again, this is not to say that the technology that has been bequeathed to us, that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not going to have legs but not in this particular form.

They're essentially just providing a tool for financial engineering and fraud rather than any real fundamental financial innovation.

VAUSE: What is the future here then?

What does it look like if you say the technology is good, it just wasn't used in the correct way?

How does the technology get used from this point on?

PRASAD: That's going to depend on what regulators will do because, at one level, regulators have to make sure that this new technology can be harnessed in a way that we can get many of the benefits in terms of giving people who are unbanked or underbanked, relatively easy access to products and financial services that they need, include basic banking products and also easy access to digital payments while making sure that the financial risks can be contained.

It will require much more transparency, corporate governance and playing by the rules that this entire industry was trying to get around.

VAUSE: Professor, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your insights.

PRASAD: Thank you for having me.

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VAUSE: Now to a major breakthrough that one day could end the need for carbon polluting fossil fuels. The U.S. Energy Department is set to announce that scientists in California have successfully produced nuclear fusion reactions which produced more energy than it consumed.

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VAUSE: That is the key. This is the same process that powers the sun. It's different from fusion that splits atoms and it is how existing nuclear reactors work. Fusing atoms does not produce radioactive waste.

But here's the catch, the energy produced by fusion last only a few seconds and the process is expensive. That means much more needs to be done to make the process commercially viable. More details now from CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: There's an old joke among physicists that fusion is, that technology is just a decade away and always will be. But that seems to be less true with these big breakthrough moments.

We will see what Secretary Granholm announces from the Department of Energy over what happened at the Livermore Laboratory, where they use the biggest laser in the country to heat up this plasma and create more energy than they were putting in.

This is after the folks in Oxford successfully doubled the time they created fusion energy back in February. But it was only to five seconds. But the Wright brothers' first flight was only a few seconds.

Within a century, we were in outer space.

Could this be a breakthrough moment?

It will certainly mean a lot more investment and a lot more debate about priorities, as other renewables like solar and wind are about to explode.

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VAUSE: CNN's Bill Weir.

We will find out more about this breakthrough later this hour from the U.S. undersecretary for science.

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VAUSE: From Moscow, the latest reports from the front lines of the war in Ukraine paint a very grim picture. A senior U.S. military official says Russian supplies and new ammunition are, quote, "rapidly dwindling."

Russian troops are now using 40 year old artillery, which is why Russia is looking to Iran and North Korea to resupply depleted weapons stockpiles. For the first time in a decade, there will be no traditional end of the year hours-long conference by Vladimir Putin.

No word from the Kremlin on his traditional address to lawmakers as well as a marathon question and answer session that he holds with lucky residents.

The Ukrainian city of Melitopol says Russian forces are panicking and re-deploying after Ukrainian strikes over the weekend. There are conflicting estimates on casualties. But Melitopol has been under occupation since the early days of the war. It's a major logistical hub for Russia's military.

The Ukrainian president asking the G7 group for more weapons, financing and energy assistance on Monday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy also sat down with the late night talk show host David Letterman, who traveled to Kyiv.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (Speaking foreign language).

DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS HOST: Yes, I can hear the siren.

What should we do?

ZELENSKYY: Nothing.

LETTERMAN: What was that?

What was the siren indicating?

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Unfortunately, I have to state that it means that war has become habit.

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VAUSE: On Ukraine's power grid, the state run energy provider providing significant energy shortages. Temperatures in Kyiv will remain below freezing today and across the country, many are hunkering down for a brutal winter. CNN's Will Ripley reports from Odessa.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just days before the official start of winter, Ukraine's military prepares for the deep freeze. Plunging temperatures won't stop front line fighting, says defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

OLEKSIY REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: It's important not only for Ukraine, it's important for Europe, it's important for civilized world.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Ukraine's goal: reclaim all Russian held territory, including Crimea, Illegally annexed by Russia nine years ago in 2014. The defense minister tells CNN Ukraine urgently needs more weapons from the U.S. and NATO.

RIPLEY: Are you getting the weapons you need right now in time?

REZNIKOV: You know that when you have a war, you will not have enough. We need certainly more, especially air defense systems is priority number one for. Us

RIPLEY: Have you've been given an explanation why the Patriot missile systems have not arrived yet?

REZNIKOV: It's a long discussion with our partners because it's very sophisticated and expensive systems. So I think that effort also will be in our battlefield by the next stage.

RIPLEY (voice-over): That next stage includes protecting the power grid from Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russia fired hundreds of missiles just in the last two months.

Regular Russian airstrikes with explosive drones made in Iran, drone attacks plunged 1.5 million people into darkness over the weekend.

RIPLEY: What's your best strategy is to defend against these kamikaze drone attacks from Russia?

REZNIKOV: Every day we're trying to find the best solutions.

RIPLEY: Are they a priority for you to develop drones?

REZNIKOV: Sure.

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REZNIKOV: Certainly. We need drones for reconnaissance, we need drones for striking, we need anti drone systems. So electronic warfare, it's a very important issue for us.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The defense minister won't confirm or deny Ukraine carried out drone strikes, close to the Russian capital last week.

RIPLEY: These attacks inside Russia, including 500 miles from Moscow, Ukrainian drones is what Russia is claiming, is that what happened?

REZNIKOV: It's very important. Don't smoke in a dangerous place.

RIPLEY (voice-over): In other words, be careful what you start. Ukrainian officials gave the same coded answer after the bombing of the Crimean bridge in October. Ukraine never officially claimed responsibility.

REZNIKOV: The targeting our infrastructure because they cannot, to have a success against armed forces of Ukraine.

RIPLEY (voice-over): He says Russia started this war. And Ukraine won't stop until they finish it -- Will Ripley, CNN, Odessa, Ukraine.

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VAUSE: Just days after being released from a U.S. prison, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has joined a pro Kremlin political party and has told state media and the party leaders gave him a lot of freedom and it's now his duty to become actively involved.

Meantime, in the U.S., basketball star Brittney Griner is experiencing a taste of normalcy after spending 10 months in detention in Russia. Her agent says that she has played basketball and is quote, "upbeat, thankful and hopeful." This as White House officials say that they are still pushing for

another detained American, Paul Whelan.

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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: With respect to the question of whether we have had engagement with the Russian Federation on the Whelan case, we will have an engagement with them this week.

I will not say more about it because we are trying to keep that in sensitive channels but that is the timetable. And we have had regular engagement along the way.

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VAUSE: Whelan is a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow December 2018, sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, has 12 years left on that sentence.

The executions have began in Iran, with another anti government protester put to death. More executions are expected. The Iranian news agency released this video. Iranian forces claim that it shows the protester allegedly stabbing two security officers.

Experts in Iran have challenged the video, saying it is not enough to identify those involved. CNN has blurred it for reasons of taste but has seen the original version and it does not clearly identify the victim. The protester was hanged publicly on Monday by crane. U.S. State Department has condemned it.

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PRICE: These harsh sentences and now the first public execution, at least, are meant to intimidate Iran's people. They are meant to suppress dissent and they simply underscore how much Iran's leadership fears its own people.

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VAUSE: A number of prominent Iranians have sent a letter to the U.N., urging the international community to call on the Iranian regime to cease with the death sentences.

As U.K. energy prices continue to rise, the snow is coming down on London. Monday, the coldest day of the year so far, is nearly 16 Celsius. Schools will be closed, flights delayed and, in some parts, motorists are asked to stay home.

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VAUSE: Well, still ahead here on CNN, we'll have details on the upcoming Argentina-Croatian World Cup match, we'll look at what is at stake for both teams. A lot.

Across the corridors of power in Brussels, who is on the take, who is paying the bribes?

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VAUSE: A growing corruption scandal in the European Parliament and Qatar is at the center of it all. Belgian authorities have arrested at least four people in connection with this, including Eva Kaili, a Greek member of parliament.

Authorities have also seized several hundred thousand dollars in cash during searches in connection with the investigation. European Commission president Ursula van der Leyen (sic) is calling the allegations of the utmost concern.

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ROBERTA METSOLA, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT: Make no mistake, the European Parliament, their colleagues, is under attack. European democracy is under attack. And our way of open, free, democratic society is under attack.

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VAUSE: And that was the president of the E.U. Parliament there, speaking.

Now Qatar's mission to the European Union has denied the allegations and for more we are joined by CNN's European affairs commentator. Dominic Thomas.

Great to have you with us, this is a widespread and extensive investigation. I want you to listen to the coach here of the left, a coalition of left-wing and far-left parties within the E.U. Parliament.

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MANON AUBRY, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER (through translator): Qatar bought votes from this chamber to cover up the exploitation of the death of migrant workers on World Cup construction sites.

We said it. The facts are shocking. More than 1 million euros already seized from the suspect's homes. The vice presidency of parliament behind bars. It has obviously been the integrity of our institution that has been affected.

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VAUSE: I am shocked that there is gambling going on. There it sounds all very grubby. Is there any reason to believe this ends with the alleged bribes being offered by Qatar, could other countries be involved in similar conduct?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think, John, once you start digging, the proverbial where there is smoke, then there is fire, it is going to shape this discussion as we go forward.

I think that the bigger question of lobbying, of external influence peddling, the vulnerability of the parliament in this particular case is a bigger issue. And they are going to have to look into this, especially as the European Union jumps from one crisis to the next, especially around the question of energy, diversification and the kinds of vulnerabilities and compromises that they are making in order to source those kinds of materials.

I think that this is a bigger discussion and the days and weeks ahead are going to reveal this as a bigger systemic problem, John.

VAUSE: That gets to the question of how does the European Parliament actually reform itself?

This is the body which has been criticized for being unaccountable. I want you to listen to the head of the E.U. delegations for relations with the Arabian Peninsula.

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HANNAH NEUMANN, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: In hindsight, some of these involvements of specific people, especially of hakai (ph), where they have a different connotation, because, maybe allegedly, they are leaning to the right (ph).

So I really think we need some kind of commentary in the European Parliament that looks back at the decisions that have been made, that are linked to this alleged corruption scandal.

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VAUSE: That is what we need, right?

A good committee and a good, hard look at some of the decisions that have been made.

Surely this would require a little more than that?

THOMAS: Yes, John, it will. This is one thing that is not lacking, obviously in the European Union, and the bureaucratic apparatus is absolutely enormous; probably, arguably, unparalleled.

The big question here is, of course, the offices exist. The question of corruption is one that is aw being looked at.

What's absolutely crucial about this context is to realize that the leadership structure of the euro base, from the ministers to the heads of commissions are appointed individuals. What is so specific about the parliament, one of the largest

parliaments in the world, representing somewhere around 400 million elected -- or individuals that can vote in these elections as part of a much broader population, is the only body in the European Union in which the citizens participate and elect individuals.

And the crucial importance here is that the European community in a broader context feels like its people that are being elected, representing them, based on legislative agendas on which they were elected and that they are not vulnerable to other agendas to dollars, money and so on.

I think that is the absolute crux of what the European Union is going to have to look into here, John, to restore this confidence in the organization.

VAUSE: Yes, because in light of the scandal, the prime minister of Hungary, a country which has been criticized by the E.U. for widespread corruption and penalized for that financially, tweeted out this zinger.

"Good morning to the European Parliament."

There are people laughing, then a line which read, "the European Parliament is seriously concerned about corruption in Hungary."

There is corruption in Hungary.

But how impacted now is the E.U. in dealing with issues like that, now that has it been called out for its own dirty laundry?

THOMAS: When it goes to the very core of what the European Union is standing for -- and the treaty of the European Union enshrines the respect for democracy, human rights, rule of law and so on.

And it has invoked Article VII to be able to look more closely or impose sanctions on Hungary and Poland precisely because of the ways in which they have been ignoring those questions.

The European Union has also endeavored to kind of bolster its reputation by positioning itself as the opponent to Russia in the context of the Ukraine and Russian war.

So it is very difficult to make the argument against Hungary around these kinds of standards, which are so crucial to eligibility and membership in the European Union while, at the same moment, being apparently unable to take care of those vulnerabilities from within.

And so, addressing those is absolutely crucial to the question of moving forward and to maintaining the values that are absolutely crucial to the E.U.'s identity, John.

VAUSE: Dominic Thomas, thank you for the insight. It is a complicated story, one that we do not hear nearly enough about now. But it's out there now. We appreciate you talking to us. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you so much, John.

VAUSE: Still to come, it fuels the stars and has been reproduced at a California laboratory. It could become a reality soon, as a reliable source of clean energy, it's hoped.

But is it possible?

More when we come back.

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VAUSE: Welcome back to viewers around the world. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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Well, for decades, scientists have tried to create a nuclear fusion reaction which produces more energy than it uses. That's been the holy grail, and now they've done it. That's according to a source familiar with the project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Nuclear fusion could be the key to an infinite source of clean energy.

Here's how it works. Scientists fire pellets containing hydrogen fuel into an array of lasers, creating a series of extremely fast explosions. The energy produced is extracted as heat.

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DR. MICHIO KAKU, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: The holy grail of energy research is to put the sun in a bottle. And that's apparently what they did in California at the National Ignition Facility.

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VAUSE: To New York now and Paul Dabbar, who served as the undersecretary for science in the Trump White House. Before that he was an investment banker. He's also a nuclear submarine officer. So you know a few things about nuclear power. Good to have you with us, Paul.

PAUL DABBAR, FORMER U.S. UNDERSECRETARY FOR SCIENCE: John, thanks. Thanks for being here.

VAUSE: OK. Well, I guess class is in now for Nuclear Physics 101. We're looking at fission versus fusion. And fission is what we do now. That's how we make nuclear power, right? That's how we get nuclear waste, and we split atoms.

Fusion is combining the two atoms together, which we have the ability to do right now. But the reaction has never created more energy than what was needed to cause the reaction in the first place. I think this is right.

So is that the breakthrough that we're talking about here now? Is that the big picture?

DABBAR: Yes, that's right. So there's a facility called the National Ignition Facility, and in Livermore, Lawrence Livermore National Lab outside of San Francisco.

And it's basically a large sphere of lasers, all pointed at a single location, which is a hydrogen fuel pellet. And it produces very high temperature and pressures, very similar to the sun. And it -- it induces the fusion for the hydrogen fuel, just like what happens at the sun.

VAUSE: And with that, we have a clip from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which explains how they use lasers here. Because in the past, it was usually a round reactor called a tokamak.

But this is how they explain what they did. Listen to this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In total, the energy of the laser beams is increased a quadrillion times as they travel more than 1,500 meters from the master oscillator room to the target chamber.

Finally, the pass through the final optics assembly, which convert the original infrared laser light to ultraviolet. The beams then converge on the ten-millimeter target assembly, called a whole (ph) rod, generating a bat of x-rays. This causes the tiny target sphere to implode and ignite.

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VAUSE: And that's how we have fusion energy. I still don't understand how they did this. Do you want to take a shot?

DABBAR: Yes, so basically, as was described in the video, that there's just a series of lasers as a central generator. It's a reasonably large facility. It's the most energetic lasers in the world.

And they all basically correspond and inject energy at the exact same time, armed at the target.

And there are many different types of fusion technologies that could induce fusion. Like talk about reactors, and spherical, and many others. But this is called an initial confinement, which is the laser version.

And what's exciting is that, after we've been trying to have controlled fusion in which we get energy out than we put in, that's been the big physics challenge. And we have -- you know, humanity has finally achieved the ability to have contained fusion and produce more energy than we put in to -- to induce the fusion reaction.

VAUSE: There are many out there who say, not so fast. We still have a very long journey on this nuclear fusion clean energy utopia. There's Dr. Peter Gleick, who's a cofounder of the research group the Pacific Institute, who tweeted, "The latest breathless news about fusion misses the point that the single shot that took weeks to prepare would have to be repeated 100,000 to a million times faster, 1,000 to 10,000 times higher laser efficiency, a cost a millionth cheaper."

But apart from that, he's a pretty big fan of it all.

So what will this breakthrough actually mean in the cost-benefit analysis here when it comes to, you know, time and money versus potential outcome and reward?

DABBAR: Well, first of all, just the sheer fact that we've been able to get above, you know, the one times net out is a major jump for science and is a major jump to show that we can do it.

And I think that's very important, because we haven't been able to show that.

I think people are very right to say that there are still many, many steps to get from here to there to make it commercial power. There's several steps associated with that.

But -- but the reality is this inertial confinement, this laser design, which has certainly turned out well here for this kind of first accomplishment for humanity, is that there's many other designs that have actually a very good odds of outperforming what NIF has just done.

There are several that could easily be five times net out, so not just 1.2 that are in design. And some are actually under construction and will be in operation in a few years, give or take about three or four years.

So I think three or four years out, we'll have something, potentially, materially even better than what we're doing. And what's great is that we have a lot of competition of designs and types of fusion reactors. And the likelihood that one or more, you know, continues to significantly improve on what's happened here today is reasonably good odds.

VAUSE: Every journey starts with a single footstep. Paul, thank you so much for being with us and explaining physics -- nuclear physics for us. It's appreciated.

DABBAR: Thank you.

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, the oldest member of BTS begins national service, as they all will over the next five years. Is this the beginning of the end for the world's most popular boy band?

They're all hanging out there at the boot camp, but who knows?

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(MUSIC: BTS, "DYNAMITE")

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VAUSE: Well, that floppy, moppy haircut is gone, now that Jin, the oldest member of BTS, is in boot camp for the start of 18 months' compulsory national service.

Let's take a look at the new regulation army buzz cut. Where is he? There it is! Very short. Short and sides.

OK. The group's record label has asked fans not to visit the military base where Jim has reported for duty.

This comes months after BTS announced they were taking a break to pursue solo projects, as well as other opportunities.

Right now in South Korea, CNN's Paula Hancocks is standing by for us.

OK, so obviously, they're very popular now. There's a lot of fans hanging out at the base wanting to, like, get a glimpse or something, whatever they do.

This is a period of -- this is a process that will take place over five years. Jin's 30. The youngest one is 25. They'll all disappear for an 18-month period at a time.

Will they be able to come back from this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question, John.

What we've heard from Big Hits, which is the management company, is they're hoping they will reunite in 2025. So they're planning to come back as a unified group at some point in the future.

They have, though, taken a hiatus, as I said, earlier this year. And they're all working on solo careers.

But as you say, Jin is now inside the military base behind me here in Yeoncheon. This is where he will do five weeks' basic military service. It's about ten miles, 16 kilometers from the DMZ, the De- Militarized Zone between North and South Korea. It is a fairly tough place to be during winter.

We spoke to one conscript who had been there just last year. And he said he could go to minus 30 degrees Celsius during the winter months. And everybody who is in that camp learned to hate the snow.

It is a particularly tough, frontline basic training camp.

Now, there weren't that many fans here, maybe a few dozen, because Jim had actually asked that they stay away, because there are others that are going in today, as well, other conscripts.

All able-bodied men before the age of 28 have to go and serve between 18 and 21 months in military service here. Jin was able to push it back to 30, because they passed a law saying that anyone who excels in public and popular culture and art can defer it for a couple of years.

In fact some sporting stars who have either won Olympic medals or an Asian Games gold were exempted completely and just had to do some kind of community service. The same with -- with classical musicians.

And so this is why it's almost surprising that this day has come. It has been debated in this country for months, lawmakers getting involved. The parliament getting involved, deciding whether or not BTS should be exempt because of what they do for the country.

And certainly, the soft power of BTS helping Korea around the world is something quite significant -- John.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you for the report. We really appreciate it. It's -- enjoy your day.

Paula Hancocks there, live in Seoul.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, please stay with us. WORLD SPORT is next with a lot on the World Cup.

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