00:00The host and executive producer of K Everything, and apparently snail aficionado Daniel Dae Kim is with us now.
00:06Thank you for being here. For our radio listeners, please describe what we were just seeing on the screen.
00:11So what you saw were what are called king snails, and they are used to produce for their snail mucin,
00:21which is the trail that they leave behind as they walk places.
00:23And that mucin is now used in cosmetic products, and we went to the factory where this mucin is harvested
00:32from these king snails.
00:35I have to tell you, I've used that product. I kind of thought it was a synthetic facsimile.
00:39I didn't realize it was really from the actual snails.
00:42No, it's the literal thing. And so I actually had the privilege of having the snails on my hand, and
00:49they're crawling around.
00:50They're big. I mean, for the audio listeners, they're like a good four inches long, so they're really big.
00:56But I will tell you that after I took the snail off my hand and my hand had dried, it
01:03was noticeably softer.
01:04Really?
01:05It really was. And so, you know, I'm proof that this stuff actually has an effect.
01:12Tell us about the genesis of this show. Why did you decide to go and make it to focus on
01:17Korean culture?
01:17Well, you know, I've been noticing how prominent Korean culture has become over the last 10 or 15 years in
01:24areas like drama, which is something I'm close to.
01:28I've been watching movies like Parasite win the Oscar, Squid Game becoming Netflix's most watched TV show,
01:34K-pop Demon Hunters becoming Netflix's most watched movie.
01:38So, you know, it was staring me in the face. And then I realized not only is it, you know,
01:43drama, but it's food, it's beauty, it's music.
01:47Of course, everyone knows K-pop. And so I thought it was a perfect time to kind of showcase this
01:52culture to the world.
01:53Did you not have enough jobs? You needed to come do my job? You're an actor, you're a producer, now
01:57you're doing our job?
01:58I was watching this last night. I was like getting aggressively jealous because you talk to so many fun people.
02:03One of my favorite segments was in the episode we got on K-beauty is you go to explain it.
02:08It's like when you do your resume in Korea, it mostly a lot of times includes a photo.
02:13And you who, you know, I've known you for a rare, so I don't like to give you compliments.
02:16But, you know, other people find you to be a very attractive man.
02:20The amount of photoshopping they did on your face to make it acceptable for a resume is terrifying.
02:26And this is like a standard thing?
02:28It is. Well, it's no longer required.
02:30But for a while, employers were requiring a photo to go along with your resume.
02:35And so Koreans, you know, would start to stretch the boundaries of what they actually look like.
02:41So you can go to these photo booth places and you can ask for levels of retouching.
02:46And one is like K-pop goddess.
02:49And what they do is they'll retouch not only your skin, but they'll make your eyes symmetrical.
02:56They'll change your jawline subtly.
02:58They'll fix a crooked smile, whiten your teeth.
03:01But it's not so drastic that it's not you.
03:06But they call it the best version of you.
03:12You make this series, and I imagine you're wrestling with why Korean culture seems to be so resonant globally and
03:18so resonant at this moment.
03:20What's your thinking on that?
03:22It's a good question.
03:23You know, Korea came from a war-torn, poverty-stricken nation just a few generations ago to one of the
03:30most modern civilizations in the world.
03:32And I think it has something to do with the competitive nature and the pride of the Korean people.
03:39And both those things are positives and negatives.
03:42So one of the things I did at the end of every interview was ask the interview subjects,
03:47what are five words you would use to describe the Korean society?
03:51And every one of them said competitive.
03:54Is that right?
03:55Yeah.
03:55And so that competitive nature, that drive, actually propels them to succeed in areas in such a short, compressed time.
04:04And at the same time, it can make it difficult at times to live there if you're falling behind or
04:09perceived to be falling behind.
04:11So talk us through the other episodes.
04:13You did one on K-pop.
04:15You did one on K-beauty.
04:16What's the breadth of it, and what was your favorite one?
04:19They were all pretty cool, but I have to say, like, because I'm a stranger in a strange land when
04:25it comes to K-beauty,
04:26that was the one that I think I had the most fun with.
04:29I actually went to a very well-known dermatologist in Seoul and underwent a procedure where she injected salmon sperm
04:36into my face.
04:37Salmon sperm.
04:37Sure, sure.
04:38How was that?
04:39It was actually interesting.
04:41Like, I had heard horror stories about people doing laser treatments, and, like, they do them, and you can't be
04:46seen for weeks because you look like a zombie.
04:49But Korea's techniques are so advanced that they give you the treatments, and you can go about your business as
04:54soon as you're finished.
04:56And they're relatively painless, and they're quick.
05:02And they're more affordable, right?
05:03Yeah, that's the thing.
05:04They're super cheap relative to the United States.
05:07And so, you know, beauty, cosmetics, tourism is actually on the rise there.
05:14There's this one region where, or one part of the city where all the plastic surgery clinics are, and you
05:21walk down the street,
05:22and sometimes you look like you're on the set of Walking Dead because everyone's in, like, bandages as they're walking
05:28down the street and sitting in cafes.
05:30It's very surreal.
05:32You opened the door to us talking about the economics of all of this.
05:34I'd love to get into that a little bit as well.
05:36Yes, there's the massive cultural resonance that we've seen, but this is a huge business.
05:41Korean culture, the export of Korean culture is a huge business worldwide.
05:44Yeah, it's a huge business, and it's government-supported.
05:46There are initiatives on behalf of the government to introduce Korean food to the world.
05:50We get into that a little bit in the series.
05:53And, you know, they've embraced K-pop in such a way that they're active ambassadors for Korea.
05:59You know, and anyone who's a prominent figure in the global spotlight is honored there, is encouraged by the government.
06:09Not in such a way that it's like a communist country, but they're celebrated, and they take a lot of
06:15pride in those who succeeded.
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