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CNN International: NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg Makes Surprise Trip to Kyiv; Doctor's Union: 70 Percent of Hospitals out of Service in and Around Khartoum; Three Charged in Alabama Birthday Party Mass Shooting; Extensive American Art Collection Hits Auction Block; The Dark Side of the K-Pop Industry. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 20, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, NATO's Chief makes a surprise appearance in Kyiv. His first since the war there began. Also ahead terrible seems in the Yemen's capital. The crowd surge of charity events is left dozens dead.

And shock felt around the world after the death of 25-year K-pop star, Moon Bin. Ukraine is getting a very high profile shows support from NATO ahead the war could be a critical moment to Russia's war. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is in Kyiv for a unanimous visit.

His first since Moscow's full scale invasion last year it comes as Western weapons including tanks, missile defense systems -- Ukraine. Ahead of his expects its spring offensive speaking at the News Conference, the NATO Chief delivered his clear message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Mr. President, I'm here today with a simple message. NATO stands with Ukraine. It stood by you after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. It stands by you today in your heroic fight against the Russian invaders and in defense of your country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me live in Central Ukraine. And Nick, just describe the symbolism of having the Head of NATO there and the issues he addressed?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly, because you listen to the Russian narrative here predominantly forces that is, it was concerned that NATO might make Ukraine a member that sparked the invasion. Now obviously here we ahead potentially hours may be days of Ukraine's starting counter offensive.

That could cause significant damage to Russia's presence in occupied territories here. And Jens Stoltenberg arriving in care for the first time since the war began saying he went to see the area of Bucha out on the outskirts of the Capital scenes of great brutality by Russian troops in the early days of the invasion.

And standing there, tweeting saying very clearly that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO as we continue to see a list of pretty good equipment that slowly turning up now in Ukraine patriot missiles, Ukraine's Defense Minister arriving yesterday or more announcements of Leopard tanks from other NATO members turning up imminently.

The list continues but Stoltenberg's presence there next to Zelenskyy talking about how Ukraine as a matter of time. It's going to take a while we've become part of NATO and clearly too. The volume of NATO equipment that's now becoming integrated Ukraine's Armed Forces is certainly a nightmare for Moscow.

They've had plenty of bad dreams, I'm sure since this war began, but Stoltenberg's presence deeply symbolic, the message very clear quite the opposite of what Putin thought his invasion was about and the timing, deeply clear here, the Patriot missiles, Stoltenberg turning up.

You couldn't have a clearer a series of messages from NATO here about enduring support, but frankly, all eyes on the months ahead, whether you Ukraine can change the battlefield reality here in its favor. Zelenskyy saying they see the prospect of liberating all their territory, that's the ambition. It's really in the weeks and months ahead, that we'll see whether it becomes a reality, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Nick in Central Ukraine, thank you. Officials have ordered an investigation into a horrific crowd surge or the Ramadan charity event in Yemen. I will warn you this video does contain some graphic images, at least 78 people were killed and dozens more injured in the Stampede at the school in the Capital Sanaa on Wednesday night.

It happened whilst local merchants were handing out money to people in need, which is a whole day tradition there. Salma is following the latest developments, I mean, that's probably the least offensive part of the video which shows how shocking it was.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really, really horrifying, but if we could play that little clip one more time. I want to talk you through just the desperation that you're seeing in that tangle of bodies, people trapped among those people, their hands flailing you can hear screaming, and it's really harrowing.

These people these dozens of people had come outside the school, Max, to get just about $10 of aid and when those doors open, this surge happened. And you see that crushed that resulted in 78 people being killed according to local Officials, dozens more wounded.

Local Officials, Houthi Officials saying that two merchants were handing out Ramadan aid at sunset. This is a tradition that happens during the holy month, but that they did not coordinate with the authorities on the ground. So those two merchants are now under arrest and investigation has been launched. Houthi Officials have promised to give help to the victim's families to provide hospital assistance treatment to those who are wounded but what a horrifying tragedy in one of the most impoverished corners of the world at a really poignant time just before --.

FOSTER: OK, Salma, thank you. Sudan another shattered ceasefire and no end to the violence is site fighting between two rival military factions continues in and around Khartoum after the second attempt that a truce in as many days broke down. A Sudanese Doctors Union says 70 percent of hospitals in the Capital region are out of service.

And the U.N. warns the country's health system is facing total collapse. It is a desperate situation that seems to be getting even worse by the hour. CNN's Larry Madowo joins us live from Nairobi and the humanitarian crisis apparently unfolding at this time, Larry in the Capital.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct, Max. Even before this conflict that started Saturday, about a third of Sudanese people needed humanitarian assistance. This is only exacerbated it when for instance, the Sudan Doctors Union telling CNN that 70 percent of hospitals in Khartoum are out of service.

That's because some of it bombed or shelled, because they're out of basic necessities. They don't have water or power because some of these power and water lines have also been bombed. And so the few that are still operating are getting inundated, dealing with so many wounded will be coming into these hospitals.

So that's one problem. The U.N. is worrying that the entire medical system in Sudan could be on the verge of collapse when you see some other reports from say, in Darfur, where certain places even drawn by aid agencies have been looted and equipment stolen. So that's one problem.

The bigger one is the fact that these ceasefires, are not holding their 24-hour ceasefire that did not take off again, or at least seem to work for a bit until it was violated was the third attempt, though the tiny three-hour temporary ceasefire that was attempted on Sunday before that also fell apart.

[08:05:00]

There was one on Tuesday and on Wednesday. So these two gentlemen the warring men are the center of this conflict General Burhan leads the Sudanese Army and his deputy and rival General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo or Hemetti cannot agree to a ceasefire and a return to dialogue.

And this is the impact it's having on everyday people about just who escaped their lives. And then whenever there's a break in fighting, they try to make their way out of the city in Khartoum, especially. I want you to listen to this Sudanese Researcher and Political Analyst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHOLOOD KHAIR, SUDANESE RESEARCHER AND POLITICAL ANALYST: What I think needs to be brought to the table quite clearly is leverage. Making the case on humanitarian grounds alone doesn't seem to have worked, in particular, because often that is mediated by political actors that may not have as much leverage as they previously had.

And therefore, you know the countries that do have leverage with general specifically Egypt and the United Arab Emirates need to be engaged to make sure that a ceasefire does happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: Kholood told CNN that the Egyptians were in fact able to evacuate their soldiers out of Khartoum last night. And she says, if that's possible, it means the airport appears to be operating at least even if the tower is not. And so if any of the countries plan to evacuate out of Sudan, they should be able to bring in aid as they evacuate the people out of the country.

And one final thing, Max, she hopes that if humanitarian grants did not work for a ceasefire, that these are the countries the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt can lean on the two war in general to use the upcoming holiday of Eid, to allow some people time to restock and to get medication and to essentially hunker down again.

FOSTER: OK, back with you as you get more Larry, thank you for joining us. K-pop singer Moon Bin, a member of the South Korean boy band ASTRO has died at the age of 25. His music label announced his death early on Thursday. So please believe the start may have taken his own life.

He was found dead in his home by his manager on Wednesday night. Fans from all over the world are expressing their condolences with the hash-tag Moon Bin trending globally on Twitter. We'll have more on this story later in the show. Uganda's President has been meeting with lawmakers as he considers whether to sign into law or veto a bill that criminalizes homosexuality.

The bill makes it a crime to even identify as LGBTQ Plus and calls for the death penalty in some cases. 50 leading scientists from around the world have signed an open letter urging the President to veto the bill. CNN's Stephanie Busari, following all of this from Lagos, Nigeria, and the idea that this could be punishable by death penalty is extraordinary to people outside the country.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR OF AFRICA: Yes, Max, and people in Uganda who identify as LGBTQ are waiting to find out if just simply saying that they are. That is their sexual identity will land them in jail for up to 20 years. The President is we're told consulting lawmakers as he makes his decision on whether to sign. What is frankly one of the harshest Bill anti-gay bills in the world into law?

We'll know later today and if that will become law, but the President has also said he wanted to hear from scientists around the world. He's called homosexuals deviance in the past, but he wants to know, is this a nature or nurture debate? And scientists have been clear and unequivocal in their response to him.

And I'll read you some of what that open letter said, Max, were some of the scientists said in their response to Mr. Beenie. We cannot say this enough. Homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human sexuality. The science on this subject is crystal clear and we call on you Mr. Beenie in the strongest possible terms to veto the bill in the name of science.

Now, it remains to be seen if he does veto the bill. Some say it's unlikely given his stance on deviance and he's anti-gay stance. Uganda already has some of the harshest penalties for being in same sex relationships, it's currently illegal. So what the MPs are doing is taking a step further to even just say.

And there's a 10-year sentence being proposed for promoting what they say is promoting homosexuality and worst of all is aggravated homosexuality, where which carries the death penalty. But activists are saying that they are living in fear of their lives, Max.

FOSTER: Yes, of course, Stephanie, thank you for bringing us up from Lagos. Females have been charged in connection with a deadly mass shooting at a birthday party in Alabama last weekend. Two of the suspects are teenagers but authorities say they will be tried as adults each face is four counts of reckless murder.

[08:10:00]

A Police say more charges could be coming. The shooting happened while friends and family were celebrating Alexis Dowdell's 16th birthday in the small town of Dadeville. Her brother Phil Dowdell a star high school football player was amongst four people killed.

We have another update involving teenagers in gun violence. Payton Washington is recovering in the hospital after being shot in a grocery store parking lot near Austin, Texas late on Monday. Another girl Heather Roth was treated and released at the scene. Roth said she, Washington and two other girls accidentally got into the suspect's car, thinking it was theirs.

She adds a man in the car then started shooting. He's facing deadly conduct charges. An effort in New Zealand to reduce the number of feral cats has sparked a backlash. A hunting club organized a contest to hunt and kill the feral cats and introduced and under 14 categories for children. After public anger, the event was cancelled feral cats are a problem in New Zealand firstly vulnerable species there.

Now after the break the death of K-pop idol Moon Bin has put the South Korean entertainment industry under the spotlight once again. We'll be live in Seoul to discuss the pressures and sometimes abuse that K-pop stars have to face.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Air-raid alarm sounded across parts of Ukraine on Wednesday night that's after Ukraine says Russia launched more than 60 airstrikes mainly on cities in the east. With all of this happening in a matter of just 24 hours on it Paton Walsh reports now, how one missile landed dangerously close to him and his team.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH (voice over): Close to Ukraine's imminent counter offensive in the south east, where Russia has long been brutalizing pain is commonplace, and the damage often everywhere and indiscriminate. The quiet is a blessing that rarely lasts. We're warned of a missile strike in coming and leave.

We can feel the pressure -- of the blast just behind our armored car. Natalie John, our producer is in our second vehicle just past the smoke the driver eco Muggeridge and isn't -- The missile landed right between our cars in 10 seconds. We have no idea. If they are live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just said something. Matt, can you hear me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I can hear you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're fine. Just leave, drive out the way we left.

[08:15:00]

WALSH (voice over): We leave together for so many that choice of leaving is something imaginary that happens above ground, the only power and water in town down here.

WALSH (on camera): Our life on the ground here has been hard for quite some time, but it will get harder when the counter offensive begins pushing, certainly in this direction.

WALSH (voice over): If there is space for laughter it's from this. A -- Slapstick Soviet era comedy about a drunken goofball, briefly bending the fixed set grimaces here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today wasn't quiet, morning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They bomb, planes bomb. With all arms they hit us, they try everything. It's very noisy, day and night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At home? If I am with God, with Jesus Christ, who protects us, cares for us, with guardian angels, we endure.

WALSH (voice over): Guardian angels seem here to flit by in a town where 50 died in the war, and 200 were injured. Safety is just a word here and Rubble is a place. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Orikhiv, Ukraine

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: K-Pop Singer Moon Bin, member of the South Korean boy band ASTRO has died at the age of 25. More on what we learned about his death and a live report from Seoul, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOSTER: SpaceX is set to give a Starship rocket another goes within the next couple of hours actually the launch window opens in South Texas. An hour from now the first attempt at its maiden test flight was called off on Monday due to a pressurization issue. Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built and it's at the heart of NASA's plans send humans back to the moon.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants it to take people to Mars eventually. I want to bring you some pictures from earlier today of a rare hybrid eclipse in Western Australia. Take a look. A hybrid Eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance depending on where you are in the world.

It means in some locations the Eclipse appeared as a ring shaped annular eclipse. In other places it looked like a total eclipse whilst in others. It was a partial eclipse According to NASA, the next hybrid Eclipse will take place in 2031.

Now it took decades for the American tycoon Erving Wolf and his wife Joyce to put together a multimillion dollar art collection and soon it'll hit the auction book. Sotheby's says the collection of more than 1000 paintings and art objects is expected to fetch $50 million. As requests reports the proceeds will benefit not the family but the tax man.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is an exquisite collection of American Art and it was built and fueled by the oil industry. That's where the Wolf family made their money. They took half a century to put all this together. There are more than 1000 pieces of art. Their son Mathew walked me through what is truly the collection of a lifetime and he was very honest about why it was now being sold and broken up.

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MATHEW WOLF, SON OF ERVING AND JOYCE WOLF: Lot of it is being sold to pay estate taxes of my mother, it was owned by my father so upon my father's death it went to my mother's estate and my mother passed away and now there are various estate taxes to pay. And so that's a reason why we're selling this.

QUEST (voice over): Every collection starts with the first piece.

WOLF: In 1970, when they moved to New York City, they just happen to purchase an apartment on Fifth Avenue across from Sotheby's Park Burnett, this is their first purchase. They paid $2,400 for including the 10 percent buyer's premium.

QUEST (on camera): 1970?

WOLF: In 1970.

QUEST (on camera): Not bad investment to the estimate is $300,000. WOLF: And I guarantee you my mother was behind the purchase. And when my father found out how much you paid for it, he would have said, how much did you pay for that piece? Are you crazy? But now you see my mother as often was right.

QUEST (voice over): As we walked around all the porcelain for sale, the phrase bull in a China shop came to mind. Imagine living amongst all of this.

WOLF: A lot of this Chinese export porcelain was in my family's dining room, in cabinets, but also on tables. And for some reason it survived and there really wasn't a fear growing up a breaking anything and somehow we made it

QUEST (voice over): In our own smaller perhaps ways. We all aspire to be a collector. And Matthew has sound advice.

WOLF: This is a window for the Coonley Playhouse done by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1912. It's important to collect something that is globally appreciated versus locally appreciated. And whatever you do by the very best.

QUEST (voice over): The breakup of this collection may be the end of one dynasty. That Mathew sure it's the start of another. Richard Quest CNN, Sotheby's.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, fans all over the world are expressing grief and shock over the apparent suicide of K-pop star Moon Bin. For the first time that South Korean entertainment industry is under the spotlight over the death of one of his idols. In 2017, Kim Jong-Hyun, lead singer of boyband Shinee died in an apparent suicide.

In 2019 K-Pop idol Sulli was found dead in her home. In Seoul only six weeks later, singer and actress Goo Hara committed suicide. A lot of K-pop stars are under intense pressure. Many of them start training as young teens years and years before they released their first song.

An average day for a K-pop star can be 16 hours or even longer. And that can involve dance and singing lessons, language classes and camera training. Some of them have reached international fame, but many of them are forced to retire, or they take a break from public life due to the constant online abuse and pressure.

To discuss I'm joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul, and we didn't know what's happened in this most recent case. But he was under the same pressure as many of the others who have opted out of the industry effectively.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max, I think it's an important point you make there that we really don't know what had happened in this particular case. But what we do know is that just 11 days before, there had been a statement from Moon Bin himself, and he had said, to his fans, it's been quite hard and I tried not to show it. But also saying he was sorry, he thought that it was starting to show saying it's the job I chose. So I need to bear with it. So there had been indications that he was having some challenges. And certainly, that is something that many of the fans are looking to now, the fact that he had publicly said that he was struggling in some way.

Of course, we don't know exactly why or exactly which way but that is something that many are focusing on. And then of course, the same questions come up every time there is one of these, the K-pop lives cut short the fact that there is a tremendous pressure, on these stars before they debut, and it often starts at a very young age, Max.

FOSTER: In terms of the industry, we've heard, haven't we, over the years how there is a lot of pressure on these bands and how, you know, a lot of people aspire to be those people in those bands. But you know, what role of the authorities played in any of this, are they interjecting? Are they passing judgment? Are they setting up new rules?

HANCOCKS: There is a lot of discussion after every search case.

[08:25:00]

Now what we know at this point is certainly the K-pop industry in itself is fairly difficult to get these kinds of comments from as to exactly how many people are trying to be part of the industry? Exactly how many people go through difficulties, how many people are suffering?

I mean, there were several documentaries done here in South Korea several years ago. And during that time, they believed and it was an estimate, but they said something like a million people apply to be part of these training camps, these K-pop industry groups to try and make it as a start and about 1000 made it to debut and as we know, only a handful really make a name for themselves.

So that's an idea of just how many people want to get to that stage. But they are fairly closed when it does come to what sort of pressures and what they put some of their trainees through? We know that it is grueling. We know that it is difficult and it is long hours.

I mean, there has been some movement towards trying to stop online abuse against some of these stars in the entertainment industry comments, for example, being disabled, on certain websites. So that they can't have the trolling that they have had in the past so certainly, that's one thing that has changed for the better.

FOSTER: OK, Paula, thank you back with you can find more about that latest case. Now one note from us here at CNN if you or someone you know, suffers or is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, the International Association for suicide prevention and befrienders worldwide can provide contact information for crisis centers all around the world.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max foster in London. "World Sport" with Amanda is next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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