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Connect the World

Iranians Urged to Prepare for War as Trump Issues New Threats; Trump Weighs Options as Iran Negotiations Plod Along; Ebola Outbreak in D.R. Congo, Uganda Sparks Global Concern; Hantavirus-hit Cruise Ship Ends Journey in the Netherlands; Bodies of Four Missing Divers Found in Maldives Sea Cave. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired May 18, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well at the White House, where U.S. President Donald Trump has issued new threats against Iran. It is

09:00 a.m. there in Washington, 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters.

This is "Connect the World". Also coming up, CNN reports from inside Iran, rare access to the streets of Tehran, where residents say they are prepared

to defend their country. And bodies found in the search for missing cave divers in the Maldives. The very latest details coming up for you this

hour.

Stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. Futures indicating a fairly muted start to the trading week. More on that when the

bell rings at 09:30 local New York time. Well, we begin with the conflict here in the Middle East, and the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran on

shaky ground.

Since he returned from China, President Donald Trump has been huddling with his national security team, weighing options if diplomacy fully breaks

down. More of those meetings are expected to happen over the next couple of days, and as we've been reporting, new U.S. military action against Iran is

under serious consideration.

Was that threat of renewed strikes escalating? Iranians are being urged to prepare. CNN now has a team on the ground there, led by our Chief Global

Affairs Correspondent, Matthew Chance, who just filed this new report, and a note as we play that for you. CNN operates in Iran only with government

permission, but does retain full editorial control. Here's Matthew's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Iran, the tension and the rhetoric is getting stronger. Thousands have been

gathering every night for state-sponsored rallies, mobilizing supporters against the United States.

CHANCE: How concerned are you that the war may start again soon?

TIANA, RALLY ATTENDEE: Concern --

CHANCE: Worried?

TIANA: I'm not worried. Why should I be worried? Because I'm so ready to sacrifice my life for my country and for my people. So, no, I'm not worried

at all, at all.

CHANCE (voice-over): This man's sign reads nuclear technology missiles are as important as borders. Key sticking points installed peace talks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need nuclear. Nuclear not for the bomb -- peaceful --

CHANCE (voice-over): Still amid escalating threats from the White House, ordinary Iranians are now being urged to prepare for war.

CHANCE: Well, these rallies or gatherings have been taking place every single night for the past several weeks, and so they're not new, but what

is new is the introduction of weapons, and these kiosks have been set up in each of these sort of squares, where members of the military, there, you

can see them with masks on.

They're showing people, in this case a woman, basic skills of how to use what I think is an AK 47 or a Kalashnikov, and things like that. Look over

here, they're showing children how to use them as well, it's all part of a sort of state-sponsored call to arms in case the war begins again.

CHANCE (voice-over): It's all guns on state television too, and several Iranian channels broadcasting their hosts brandishing assault rifles. They

gave me a weapon, so I could learn how to use it, like you. This anchor tells her viewers.

After his on-air training, this presenter fires off a round into the -- but not all Iranians are gunning for a fight. Just around the corner from the

rally hints at the diversity of views about their country's plight.

CHANCE: Well, it's a very different atmosphere in this part of town. People are sitting with their partners, having coffees.

[09:05:00]

Strolling around the bookstores or just hanging out with their friends. And if you talk to people, you get very different views as well. You know,

people didn't want to talk on camera, but off camera. One woman said to me, she just wanted peace and freedom. Another one said she wanted to live in a

normal country where there was a potential future for her children.

CHANCE (voice-over): But Iran's future to many Iranians looks increasingly clear, especially amid regular threats from President Trump.

CHANCE: Waiting for the war.

FATIMA, RALLY ATTENDEE: We're waiting. We are here because we know this war isn't over. We know he's not negotiating. He's not going to negotiate

anything. He's just going to be like, either you do what I tell you or I'm going to kill you again.

And it may be that bleak sense of inevitability drowning out in voices compromise. Matthew Chance, CNN in Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well U.S. President Donald Trump showing his frustration at the lack of progress in peace talks on Sunday. He warned, and I quote, here the

clock is ticking for Iran to make a deal to end the war, saying on social media they better get moving fast, or there won't be anything left of them.

Well, each side has so far rejected the other's proposals. An Iranian government spokesperson said today talks are ongoing through Pakistani

mediators. Does Washington also see these negotiations moving forward? Well, the view from CNN's Kevin Liptak, who has more now from the White

House.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, the gears of diplomacy continue to grind here. What they said this morning is that they responded

with what they called corrective points to the U.S. 14-point proposal. Remember, President Trump had just last week said that Iran's response to

that had been unacceptable.

They seem to be trying to find areas where they can compromise, where they can come up with some sort of agreement for both of the sides to sign off

on, but I think it's also an indication that this is a very slow process as the two sides continue to pass papers back and forth, and that has been a

source of impatience for President Trump.

You know, as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, as there are questions remaining about the Iranian leadership and divisions inside Tehran. The

president clearly growing frustrated that this is not sort of resolving itself quicker, and that is why I think you hear him and see him staring

down another critical decision point.

You know, does he resume military campaign inside Iran? It's been a point of discussion between the president and senior national security officials

just over the weekend. He met with them at his golf course in Virginia. We understand that he will convene that group again early this week to sort of

plot how this is all going to resolve itself going forward.

He also spoke yesterday with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and you do get the sense that there are these intensive discussions

underway about potentially resuming the military campaign inside Iran, and that message that the president sent over the weekend, warning Iran that,

quote, the clock is ticking, that they better get moving, I think, gives you a sense that the president is nearing a decision, potentially, about

going back into Iran, about breaking the ceasefire that has been in place since last month.

ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Kevin Liptak reporting there from the White House. More on Iran later this hour. I'm going to dig deeper into how high some

experts think oil prices could rise, and why some believe the world economy is living on borrowed time. That is still ahead here on "Connect the

World".

Well, international efforts meantime working to try to halt the spread of Ebola after health officials said it has infected hundreds of people and

possibly killed at least 88. The World Health Organization has opened its meeting of global health ministers after declaring the Ebola epidemic a

quote, public health emergency of international concern.

Let's get you live to Kenya and CNN's Larry Madowo, who is there in Nairobi monitoring what is going on. Just provide us some context here. Firstly,

the latest on how many people are affected and how wide a scope this outbreak is?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, we know now that there are 88 confirmed deaths suspected of Ebola, 336 people who are currently sick, and

that is a high number. That's why experts are confirmed there were two cases in Uganda. One person died and was sent back across the border.

The other person is still in hospital, calling Ugandan authorities. They are being vigilant the same way the neighboring Rwanda is also being

vigilant at this time.

[09:10:00]

They're adding extra checks at the border to make sure that they're essentially not importing Ebola from the northeastern part of the DRC into

Rwanda. This region also borders South Sudan, so there's a few other countries here in the region that are on high alert right now, especially

when you think of this number, 336 suspected cases.

This is an area that at war there's been a lot of displaced people, and that is why there's this multi-agency response. The health minister in the

DRC has gone to the region, set up three treatment centers to contain this virus, the Bundibugyo virus, that's the strain of Ebola that's been

detected here.

There's no treatment for it, and there is no vaccine. So, the only way that health experts can do is try and basically keep these people in a stable

position and treat some of the other symptoms, and unfortunately it has a 40 percent mortality rate, which is quite high, but not as high as other

strains of Ebola that go up as much as 90 percent.

Part of the reason why these outbreaks keep happening in the DRC, this is the 17th outbreak, is that in this belt along the Central Africa, some

people eat bats, and food bats are the ones that essentially carry Ebola, and that's how it comes from basically bats into humans, and that's why 16

times now, the 17th time, the DRC has had to deal with these Ebola outbreaks, so far that is the situation, Becky, very concerning.

ANDERSON: Larry, our viewers may remember the Ebola outbreak of 2014 very specifically more than a decade ago now, that killed tens of thousands of

people, what are experts telling you about how different this strain is? And how prepared the international community is today to prevent this from

escalating further?

MADOWO: Because the DRC has seen so many of these outbreaks, they've become quite good at basically managing them quickly, within a couple of weeks,

sometimes the concern for experts in this particular instance is that it appears to have been detected quite late. We're talking about 88 deaths,

more than 330 people suspected cases.

That is quite high. The first suspected case was about a month ago, and some experts telling me that this should have been declared a lot earlier,

so that the containment measures can begin. There's now a huge surge in medical equipment and staff to deal with it in Ituri, in the northeastern

part of the DRC, but these numbers are of concern, but also because this area is so volatile and so many people trans basically travel between the

DRC, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda.

This is possible that quite a high number of people could have come into contact with people who are essentially sick of Ebola, and they just don't

know yet, Becky.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, and we're going to get an expert from the Head of the CDC in Africa on the show at some point this hour to answer

what will be some very pressing questions that I know that we will ask on behalf of our viewers. It's good to have you in fact.

I do actually think we may have the head of the CDC in Africa now. Let me just -- am I right in saying that? Do we have him? Right.

DR. JEAN KASEYA, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF AFRICA CDC: Yes.

ANDERSON: OK. Well, sir, thank you for joining us. This is Dr. Jean Kaseya. He's the Head of the Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He's at the W.H.O. Health Ministers meeting in Geneva, and he joins me now. It's good to have you, sir. Apologies for the slight technical issues in

establishing you, the U.S. has now raised its travel advisory for the DRC to level four.

Do not travel. So, how concerned are you about the risk of cross-border spread at this point?

KASEYA: We understand that countries may issue precautionary travel advisories based on their risk assessment. However, it is important for us

to distinguish between evidence-based travel health notice and the generalized travel bans, and to ensure that measures remain proportionate

and are aligned with international health regulations.

We need also to congratulate the DRC for transparency and for the action that they are taking. We are clear in Africa CDC that countries, they

cannot be punished because they are transparent, because if we start to punish countries while they are transparent on outbreaks, they will not

start to declare their outbreaks, and they will not start to give us reliable data.

This is our message when people are deciding this kind of measures.

[09:15:00]

ANDERSON: So, talk to us about the measures being taken and whether or not this outbreak was sufficiently quickly flagged. So, talk to us about the

measures being taken, and whether or not this outbreak was sufficiently quickly flagged.

KASEYA: You know, we can say, based on the information that we have, the outbreak was timely declared in Africa CDC, because the first alert came

from Africa CDC. When the outbreak is at country level, this is the responsibility of the country. When I got clear information that we had

also Uganda on the 14th of May that had one death due to this outbreak.

We decided to declare that because we knew that at least two countries were affected. Now from the day zero, I can assure you the two countries with

Africa CDC and other partners, including W.H.O. we are working strongly collectively to fight that. Myself, I decided to stop my engagement in

Geneva. I'm going back today.

ANDERSON: Right.

KASEYA: Tomorrow I will be in DRC, meeting authorities, and I will fly to Kampala to meet also authorities to see how to organize the cross-border

activities.

ANDERSON: So, you are confident that action was taken quickly enough. Are you to be clear?

KASEYA: To be clear, I say we cannot accept when we have a now to break that started almost eight years ago the first artwork we had in 2007 in

Uganda. Then we have the second one in Kinshasa, in DRC, in Isiro. We cannot accept that today we don't have vaccine, we don't have medicine.

But what the government of the two countries are doing with the public affirmations, it means isolate people who are infected, providing support

to health workers with the protection, providing information to communities. I think they are doing a great job. We need just to increase

the capacity for diagnostics.

ANDERSON: Right.

KASEYA: And to cover while we are working to develop vaccines and medicines.

ANDERSON: Because you know it will be difficult to contain an outbreak, one assumes, and I wonder, how you compare this to previous Ebola crises.

You're appealing for more support at this point. How important is that support?

KASEYA: This support is important because you know when you don't have stools like for Ebola Zaire, that is killing more than other strengths of

Ebola. We have vaccine, we have medicine, but for this Bundibugyo, we don't have tools. Then we need more money to make sure that we are protecting the

community, we are providing information, we are providing water and sanitation, we are providing support, protection for health workers.

We are having diagnostics everywhere, even in the borders of countries, because we don't want countries making decisions of travel ban, and all of

that will request more funding, and this is why we are sending a strong message to our countries and our partners to provide sufficient support to

Africa CDC and to countries and to other partners to respond to this outbreak.

ANDERSON: What are the most important signs and symptoms that people should be watching for? And how different is this strain, and how prepared from

Ebola in 2014 which many of our viewers will remember killed thousands of people? And how prepared is the international community today to prevent

this from escalating further, given the significant funding restraints that so much of the world, including this part of Africa, suffers from at this

point?

KASEYA: You know, we learned from these previous outbreaks, we built our capacities. I was briefing our leaders and our partners since I started in

Africa, since in 2023, we managed to bring Africa from red to green in terms of capacity to detect the genomic sequencing, but that one is at

capital level, almost all African countries today.

[09:20:00]

When I started, we have only seven countries with this capacity. Today, we have 45 countries with capacity to detect. But more importantly, we think

that if we can continue to strengthen the capacity at regional and at the lowest level of the -- system, we are able also to send timely information

when there is an outbreak, that will contribute to strengthen the system.

We need to know lack of transmission of information is exposing all of us. Currently we have already more than 100 deaths due to this outbreak, and

this is not acceptable.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed for joining us on what is an enormously important story. Thank you. Well, the

cruise ship at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak has reached its final destination, ending a weeks' long health emergency at sea.

The MV Hondius stopped earlier today at a port in the Netherlands, where it will undergo a full biomedical cleaning and be disinfected. The remaining

25 crew members and two medical staff are disembarking in stages, and they will enter quarantine. Meanwhile, global health authorities continue to

monitor and contact trace those who have already been evacuated, including a newly announced presumed positive test for one of the four Canadian

passengers.

Some more on that is online. When we come back, new developments in a hazardous mission in the Maldives to find the bodies of four scuba divers.

We're going to have the details on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, the bodies of four missing scuba divers have been found in the Maldives. This following a dangerous mission to locate their remains in

a network of undersea caves. This recovery effort was launched after five Italians died last week exploring the Vaavu Atoll caves.

It is still unclear what went wrong, but strong currents and complete darkness make diving extremely hazardous. The body of the group's

instructor had been found on Thursday at the mouth of the caves. A senior Maldivian diver died on Saturday in an earlier attempt to reach the other

bodies.

Well, CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is across the latest for us from Rome. And I have to say, I mean, Barbie, this is dominated Italian media and other

media around the world, of course. Just tell us what we know about this recovery mission and how these bodies of the four Italian divers were

found.

[09:25:00]

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, the discovery of these four bodies does, in and of itself, present a whole new series of challenges. They were

located through the use of robotic cameras, not divers themselves. Of course, after the diver, the rescue diver died on Saturday, that changed

sort of the strategy of the whole recovery operation, because it's dangerous.

And so you know they've recovered the body of the diving instructor that was on Thursday, and so they've been searching for these bodies, and it

really is sort of a worst-case scenario, because they located them at the deepest part of the cave, which is 70 meters below the water surface,

that's 230 feet, and so recovering those bodies is going to be very, very difficult.

Now, they've got three expert cave divers from Finland who arrived in the Maldives this morning. They weren't able to dive past the decompression

depth yet, because they had taken a long flight, but they will be part of this recovery effort. But before they go down and try to retrieve any of

the bodies, they say that they will conduct precise risk assessments to make sure that they understand the currents of the water inside the caves

to not put any more lives at risk and not make this tragedy any worse than it already is.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you. It's a story which we will continue to explore, but at this point, thank you. Let's get you up to speed on some of

the other stories that are on our radar right now. And Ukrainian officials say one person has been killed, more than 30 people injured in what was a

large-scale strike on Russia overnight.

School and a kindergarten were among the sites hit in the attacks, which targeted the cities of Odesa and Dnipro. The night before, Ukraine carried

out what Russian state media calls the largest drone attack on Moscow in more than a year. At least three people were killed.

Well, it's the last full day of campaigning in several U.S. states ahead of midterm primary elections on Tuesday. Six states will hold votes, including

Kentucky, where Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has announced that he won't stand again for re-election.

And also, Georgia, one of the biggest battlegrounds with high-stakes races in both the House and the Senate. And later on, Monday, jury deliberations

begin in the civil lawsuit brought by Elon Musk against the co-founders of OpenAI. Musk claiming OpenAI's leadership, including his one-time partner

Sam Altman, breached the organization's charitable trust when they created a for-profit business.

OpenAI and Altman have rejected Musk's claims. Well, oil prices, while a little lower as we speak, still extremely high as the Strait of Hormuz

remains effectively closed. After a break, we'll look at the impact on the energy sector and how Gulf producers are rethinking their export routes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Let's get you live to Wall Street. That is the opening bell. The U.S. trading day has just begun. Pelagos Insurance Capital Limited ringing

the opening bell in New York today. And let this market just settle a little bit. We did expect a relatively muted start, that's what the futures

markets were indicating.

We'll let the other two markets settle out a little bit before we show you what they're doing, and they are just settling in there. OK, we have a

positive, but as I say, muted start to the trading week. Some analysts saying the global oil market may be living on borrowed time, with far

higher prices around the corner as the effects of the fuel crisis continue to unfold.

Brent crude, the international benchmark rising today to more than $110 a barrel, before, as you can see, coming off slightly. WTI had been above 100

just coming off again as we speak. The UAE now fast tracking a new pipeline to the port of Fujairah, which is on the Gulf of Oman coastline.

So that more of its oil exports can bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Amena Bakr is Head of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ Insights at Kpler. She joins me

today from Dubai. It's good to speak to you again. Oil prices remain high. One seasoned global expert, you will have read, I'm sure, in the FT today,

observing that the market is living on borrowed time before he says he expects prices to spike even further with no resolution in sight.

How much spare capacity or resilience is really left in the system if this disruption drags on, Amena?

AMENA BAKR, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST ENERGY AND OPEC+ INSIGHTS AT KPLER: It's a catastrophic situation, Becky, and we are living on Barra Borrow time, and

unfortunately, I hate being the voice of doom, like many analysts these days are the voice of doom, but oil prices are just going to continue

climbing up, because we don't have enough spare capacity in the system to make up for the huge losses that remain trapped inside the Middle East

region.

So saying that Becky, I mean the stocks have been drawn to levels that we haven't seen previously, around 380 million barrels have been drawn so far,

so saying that we're living in borrowed time, I mean, this is just an understatement here, and we're just about to see the real impact of this if

the strait doesn't open, if it remains closed for six months. This is a catastrophic situation.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and I think it's clear that the world economy is already strained and will be increasingly impacted should this not change. I want

to concentrate on what is happening in the Gulf, where this oil is exported from, of course, through the Strait of Hormuz.

UAE now accelerating this new West East pipeline to Fujairah, which is one of the Emirates here on the country's coast, effectively building around

Hormuz, as it were, and while the existing pipeline is a temporary sort of wartime work around, if you will. How significant do you believe this

expansion is, which was announced late last week?

And what does that say about the longer-term reshaping of Gulf energy infrastructure, Amena?

BAKR: I think that if one thing Gulf countries could see from this crisis is that you cannot rely on the Strait of Hormuz again, and given the fact

it's taken this long for the U.S. and the international community to step in and resolve or reopen the strait. And even, I mean, we saw Trump's visit

to China, that didn't lead into anything, and China relies 40 percent of its imports come through the strait.

And they're not doing much to open the strait, so if the strait remains under Iran's control. This means that Gulf countries need to rethink their

strategy, and that points to the contingency plans that you mentioned there, Becky, with the UAE building another pipeline in addition to the one

they have.

So, they have 1.8 million barrels a day already bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Exports are going through Fujairah.

[09:35:00]

They're going to have another pipe. It's going double the country's capacity. We have countries like Saudi Arabia, for example, looking at deep

bottleneck Yanbu, increasing exports from the west. So, these contingency plans are, you know, being really thought out here, and they're going

forward, because reliance on the Strait of Hormuz is not something they want to, you know, depend on.

ANDERSON: Yeah, just want to zoom out a little bit further. The UAE, of course, has now left OPEC and OPEC+. The country insists that was a policy,

not a political decision, and it is expanding sort of export capacity while deepening ties with major buyers like India, for example, a massive UAE-

India summit just at the end of last week.

Does this tell us something bigger do you believe about Abu Dhabi's long- term strategic vision and its ambitions as an energy power, but beyond its sort of oil focus into its non-oil post-oil focus as an economy.

BAKR: Well, it's no secret that the UAE has a kind of different vision or projections when it comes to the global energy transition. Perhaps they

believe that it's going at a faster pace, and therefore they need to produce more of their oil before it becomes very difficult to monetize.

And it's also not a surprise that the UAE has been arguing quotas with OPEC for several years now. And at this point in time during the war, it was a

point where they felt that they need to review their relationships across the board, and they framed the decision around the fact that they need to

produce more once the strait opens and make sure that there's more supply in the market.

However, Becky, I want to say that I mean they're not going to be flooding the market. This will depend on market conditions. It would also, I think,

they will align with neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia is still a big neighboring producing state with 12 million barrels a day of capacity, so

no one can afford another price war.

And when it comes to OPEC, I'm a strong believer that this market still needs market management, and we can't live in cycles of booms and busts

here. We need OPEC to continue market management.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Amena. We haven't spoken for a week or so, which seems a long time, given that we were speaking almost every day for

the first seven weeks of this war. You've been working very hard, and your insight and analysis is so important to us.

Thank you very, very much indeed. Amena Bakr in the house. Still ahead, Korean barbecue may have put Korean cuisine on the map, but there is so

much more to discover. Well up next, we're going to dine with a Korean chef and learn about his journey to the top.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Well, we are exploring the global rise of Korean food this week as part of K-Everything, a CNN original series with Daniel Dae Kim. Today,

he meets Corey Lee, the first Korean chef, earned three Michelin stars for one of his favorite meals in Seoul. It took Corey years to reach the top of

his field, and even longer for his mum to come around to his career choice. Have a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DAE KIM, HOST OF K-EVERYTHING: First time I ever saw someone crunch into a raw crowd, it was my dad, and I thought, damn, man, that's savage.

KIM (voice-over): Ganjang gejang, four soy marinated crab, it's raw, salty, intensely savory, and one of my all-time favorites.

KIM: How's it?

COERY LEE, CHEF: Yeah, that's really good.

KIM: You know, he said, like when you eat crab, when you eat lobster, any kind of shellfish, so good. He said nothing should go to waste, everything

is edible.

KIM (voice-over): Like me, Corey was born in Korea. Also like me, his parents moved him to the U.S. at an early age.

LEE: My mom, there were never those parents who made me go to after-school classes or scrutinize my grades or anything like that. They were very, very

hands-on.

KIM: You and I had some different upbringings.

KIM (voice-over): Corey's mom, though, did not want him to be a chef.

LEE: My father was pretty progressive personal, especially for a current man of his generation. My mom's fairly traditional, and she really opposed

to constantly, you know, saying comments here and there about how I should look into someone else or go to college finally and pursue a real

profession.

KIM: Right, exactly.

LEE: I'm sure you got the same thing.

KIM: I did.

KIM (voice-over): Corey eventually made his way to the highly acclaimed French Laundry in California, which is when his mom finally came around.

LEE: A newspaper "The Chosun Ilbo" they heard that the Head Chef of the French Laundry that just got three charged is actually Korean-American.

"The Chosun Ilbo" is you know, one of the prominent papers, and it's a big deal. My mother read that article, and she thought, OK, I guess this is

like a real professional. I think she needed some kind of validation in her terms.

KIM: Right, because you could be in "The New York Times", you could be in "Time" magazine. It doesn't matter as much as it would be like a Korean

newspaper.

LEE: Yeah. I think that's right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, you can stream the full series in the U.S. on the CNN app, and globally you can see it on HBO Max. Well, I'll be back at the top of

the hour with more "Connect the World". Before that and after this short break to "World Sport".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

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