Daniel Dae Kim Got Salmon DNA Injected Into His Face for His New CNN K-Culture Series

Daniel Dae Kim lay down in a Seoul doctor's office and let someone inject salmon sperm DNA into his face, on camera, and that is the show's thesis statement as much as anything he says out loud.

The new CNN series K-Everything: The Global Rise of Korean Culture debuts Saturday on CNN International and is also available on CNN and HBO Max. Kim hosts, produces, and occasionally submits to experimental skincare procedures in the name of journalism.

"It's an examination of how Korea has risen in the course of three short generations from a war-torn third world country to one of the most modern places in the world," Kim said in an interview. The show covers that rise through four lenses: food, cinema, beauty, and music.

The episode lineup moves fast. Kim attends a kimchi festival in Pyeongchang to trace how K-food is reshaping fine dining globally. He sits down with actor Lee Byung-hun, Psy of "Gangnam Style" fame, BIGBANG's Taeyang, and the songwriters behind the Oscar-winning "Golden." The beauty episode features makeup artist and influencer LeoJ and model Irene Kim, with a stop at a snail slime factory that produces ingredients for skincare products. The salmon DNA injection, aimed at reducing inflammation and improving skin elasticity, rounds out the self-experimentation portion.

"I look like I got a little sunburn and a little redder than usual, but it's not bad," Kim told the camera crew post-procedure. "OK, I'm camera ready."

Kim was born in South Korea but moved to the United States at age one, returning often. That background makes K-Everything personal in ways a purely outside-facing travel show wouldn't be. He brought his parents along, and that detail quietly lands: Seoul's transformation has been so dramatic that his parents, navigating the city of their own youth, needed their son to show them around. "It was almost a foreign country to them," he said.

He's stepping into a crowded field. Celebrity travel hosting now includes Tony Shalhoub, Rainn Wilson, Eugene Levy, Stanley Tucci, Orlando Bloom, Zac Efron, José Andrés, Chris Hemsworth, Will Smith, Eva Longoria, and Ewan McGregor, among others. Kim names Anthony Bourdain as his touchstone. "I wouldn't say this show is as irreverent as Anthony Bourdain's show was, but I loved it because I felt like he was showing me his take on each country and he was a trusted guide," he said. "If I can be that for some people, then that's the spirit I'd like to bring into this show."

CNN Originals executive vice president Amy Entelis said Kim came in already knowing the material. "From the first time I met him, it was clear he was incredibly well equipped to tackle this, deeply passionate about the subject and highly knowledgeable," she said.

Kim, recently nominated for a Tony Award and best known to international audiences from Lost, frames the series as something broader than a culture showcase. He wants it to push back against anti-Asian racism, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. "If we can start to understand one another a little bit better through culture, then I think it is one step toward bringing together a global community," he said.

K-Everything: The Global Rise of Korean Culture premieres Saturday on CNN International.