Not too long ago, Daniel Dae Kim had an unusual encounter with a salmon. It had nothing to do with dinner.

The actor, director and producer lay down in a doctor's office in Seoul and underwent microinjections into his face of DNA from salmon sperm. The hope was to reduce inflammation and improve elasticity.

“I look like a got a little sunburn and a little redder than usual, but it’s not bad,” he says to a camera crew after the procedure. “OK, I’m camera ready.”

Kim was putting his face on the line as part of the new CNN series “K-Everything: The Global Rise of Korean Culture,” his love letter to K-beauty, K-pop, K-food and K-film. It debuts Saturday on CNN International and is also available on CNN and HBO Max.

“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 says in an interview.…