CNN founder Ted Turner died on Wednesday at 87, and plenty of the reaction appropriately revolved around his reputation as a businessman and innovator, but The Situation Room co-anchor Wolf Blitzer recalled a 2010 trip to North Korea where he mused that Turner and CNN could be used to further world peace. The problem for Blitzer was that he was also the anchor on September 19, 2005, who had to confront Turner and remind him Kim Jong-il was a brutal dictator.
Blitzer reminisced, “So, here I am in Pyongyang. I'm staying in this little villa that the government there put us up in, and I have a TV in that room. I turn on the TV, and it's North Korean state television. Of course, I don't understand Korean, so I don't know what they're saying, but I'm flipping channels, and the only other channel that was on that TV in Pyongyang was CNN. And I'm watching CNN in North Korea, and I'm saying to myself, ‘How did this happen? How did North Korea get to show CNN on this TV?’”
CNN's Wolf Blitzer remembers going to North Korea with Ted Turner and finding CNN on his North Korean hotel TV "People would be watching CNN in North Korea. And he was suggesting he was suggesting that maybe the world would be a more peaceful place if people all over the world… pic.twitter.com/lajEVaGA0C
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 6, 2026
Answering his own question, Blitzer continued, “And then later, I'm in the lobby and I ask one of the people in the lobby. CNN was on the TV. He takes me outside. There's a little area, and there's a satellite dish there, and he says to me, ‘This is the satellite dish that Ted Turner, a year earlier, brought to Pyongyang, and we put it up here. He asked us to show CNN to the people in North Korea.’"
He also claimed, “It was very important to him to try to emerge a more peaceful world. And all of a sudden, North Korea, you could see CNN on the TV there because of that satellite dish that Ted Turner had brought to North Korea. And there it was right in the middle of this area, outside this villa where we were all staying. And it was just a powerful moment.”
Getting to his point about world peace, Blitzer declared, “To see how Ted Turner would often think about world peace, even with a country like North Korea. And people would be watching CNN in North Korea. And he was suggesting, he was suggesting that maybe the world would be a more peaceful place if people all over the world would be watching the same news. And it's just inspired me, as someone who had been working at CNN, the way he was so committed to world peace, to showing the people of the world news, educating the people of the world about what's going on fairly and accurately.”
Blitzer forgot to mention his 2005 interview with Turner. In that interview, Turner claimed America could trust North Korea in the Six Party Talks, “And they looked like they meant the truth. You know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time.”
Back then, Blitzer replied, “But this is one of the most despotic regimes and Kim Jong-il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?”
Turner played dumb, “Well, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look — in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people.”
Again, Blitzer urged, “But look at the way he’s treating his own people.”
Blitzer, however, was also on the air back on September 19, 2005 when Blitzer had to remind him "Kim Jong-il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?" with Turner adding "He didn’t look too much different than most other people." pic.twitter.com/RWz9h1rmBR
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 6, 2026
Not seeing what the big deal was, Turner insisted, “Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but—”
Blitzer had to inform him that was because “A lot of those people are starving.”
Elsewhere in that interview, Turner would suggest that the reason why North Korea is struggling is because the Korean War is not officially over, which means it has to spend money on its military and that ending the war would allow “those hundreds of thousands of young men that are sitting there back building hospitals and roads and schools in North and South Korea and improving the gross national product. It’s just a waste of time and energy for them to sit there.”
Somehow, South Korea has managed to build a thriving democracy with a first world economy while also being a fortress state with mandatory male conscription. Despite being a successful businessman, having a soft spot for communist dictators was Turner’s greatest weakness and will sadly also be a part of his legacy.
Here is a transcript for the March 5, 2026, and September 19, 2005, shows:
CNN The Situation Room
5/6/2026
10:57 PM ET
WOLF BLITZER: So, here I am in Pyongyang. I'm staying in this little villa that the government there put us up in, and I have a TV in that room. I turn on the TV, and it’s North Korean state television. Of course, I don't understand Korean, so I don't know what they're saying, but I'm flipping channels, and the only other channel that was on that TV in Pyongyang was CNN. And I'm watching CNN in North Korea, and I'm saying to myself, “How did this happen? How did North Korea get to show CNN on this TV?”
And then later, I'm in the lobby and I ask one of the people in the lobby. CNN was on the TV. He takes me outside. There's a little area, and there's a satellite dish there, and he says to me, "This is the satellite dish that Ted Turner, a year earlier, brought to Pyongyang, and we put it up here. He asked us to show CNN to the people in North Korea."
It was very important to him to try to emerge a more peaceful world. And all of a sudden, North Korea, you could see CNN on the TV there because of that satellite dish that Ted Turner had brought to North Korea.
And there it was right in the middle of this area, outside this villa where we were all staying. And it was just a powerful moment.
To see how Ted Turner would often think about world peace, even with a country like North Korea. And people would be watching CNN in North Korea. And he was suggesting, he was suggesting that maybe the world would be a more peaceful place if people all over the world would be watching the same news.
And it's just inspired me, as someone who had been working at CNN, the way he was so committed to world peace, to showing the people of the world news, educating the people of the world about what's going on fairly and accurately. And it just was a powerful moment for me. And I'm sure there were powerful moments like that with you in your connection with Ted.
***
Situation Room
9/19/2005TED TURNER: I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere....I looked them right in the eyes. And they looked like they meant the truth. You know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time.
WOLF BLITZER: But this is one of the most despotic regimes and [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?
TURNER: Well, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look — in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people.
BLITZER: But look at the way he’s treating his own people.
TURNER: Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but—
BLITZER: A lot of those people are starving.
