liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the legacy of the u.s. senator john mccain on the world stage. better known as the maverick. we look at his role and impact on u.s. foreign policy. in florida a gunman opens fire at a crowded video game tournament. what we are learning about the shooter and the investigation. and friction within the vatican. the pope refuses to address an archbishop's call for him to step down over the sexual abuse scandal. >> hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and of course all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. "newsroom" starts right now.

in the united states a great deal of mourning. the loss of a political giant and an american war hero. >> senator john mccain died saturday after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. his final moments were spent at his home in arizona surrounded by his family. >> tlaflags across the united states are flying at half-staff in honor of senator mccain. you see the white house here, the flag lowered. remembering him. >> people will have several opportunities to pay respects to mccain throughout this week. cnn's kyung lah reports. >> reporter: senator john mccain remembered for being such a prominent national figure was arizona's favorite son. and it is here in his home state that memorials will begin. they start on wednesday. the flags here at the state capitol have already been

lowered, and it is here at a private ceremony in the rotunda that the memorials will begin. for six hours he will lie in state here at the arizona state capitol. the public will be able to come in to bid their farewells to their senator. on thursday morning there will be a public memorial service at a phoenix baptist church. and then he departs for washington. on friday the senator will lie in state at the u.s. capitol rotunda. on saturday a national memorial service at the national cathedral. and then on sunday senator mccain will be laid to rest at the u.s. naval academy in annapolis. it is there he began his public service and where his body will find its final resting place. kyung lah, cnn, phoenix, arizona. >> let's get some perspective on the legacy of john mccain, and we are joined by scott lucas, professor of international politics at the university of

birmingham. thanks so much for being with us. >> good morning, rosemary. >> so with the passing of john mccain america has lost a hero and a fearless politician who was never afraid to question his own party's stand on various issues. what does this mean for the country, and who might fill that void? >> you know, so many great questions. but let me start for a moment with john mccain because i need to be honest with your viewers. i've got very mixed feelings about john mccain's policies that he pursued. i would disagree with many of them. both domestically and in american foreign policy. but i think there's two things about john mccain that i note. the first is that he did change his positions and he changed positions not to be a maverick but because he thought it was right to change positions. say, for example, that he opposed barack obama's obamacare in 2010 but last year when the trump administration tried to kill it off he saved the program because he said there was nothing to replace it.

he was castigated by many republicans, not just trump, for doing so. he used to be a supporter of the hardest line anti-immigration measures. for example, in arizona. but in 2013 he looked for a way forward with immigration reform, reaching out across the aisle with democrats to try to pursue that. an issue that we're still battling with five years later. and i think the thing about john mccain is he could be temperamental at times. he could be coarse in his language at times. he could be insensitive in comments about other countries at times. for example, about iran or about the middle east. but you were almost ufrmsly hearing from colleagues or from journalists or from activists that no matter what their political views he treated them with decency and respect and he wanted to hear from them. he wanted to hear from them even if he differed with them to try to establish a dialogue on what could be done. and if there's something america takes away from this, apart from commemorating both his strengths and his flaws, it's that idea that we need to get back to that dialogue amongst all of us, not just politicians in the very

near future. >> right. now, president trump eventually sent out a tweet offering his prayers and condolences to john mccain's family. but according to the "washington post," the president did this to avoid issuing an official white house statement praising john mccain as a hero. why would mr. trump do that, and what does it say about him and his leadership style? >> because donald trump despises john mccain. that's why he wouldn't utter his name even as he insulted him in the final weeks of his life. for example, at campaign rallies. we could spend much time on why trump despises mccain. personally, i think trump is intimidated, or was intimidated by mccain's intelligence, by his forthrightness. he hated the fact that john mccain was liked by so many people in the u.s. so he saw him as a rival. that's why he said i don't like people who are captured and denigrated those 5 1/2 years that john mccain spent as a prisoner of war in north vietnam. of course later on donald trump

just hate td when john mccain wouldn't follow trump's line on all issues. you know, mccain supported the trump administration 85% of the time, but when he disagreed on health care, on immigration, then he became anathema to donald trump. but you know, rather than focus on donald trump today, a donald trump who last night tried to proclaim he's america's all-time favorite president because he's so strong on the troops, i'd rather focus on mccain and recognizing what we can learn from him while recognizing that he wasn't perfect. because what we're going to need from politicians, from activists, from journalists, from all of us is a way to repair the damage. we're going to need from all of us a way forward. and we're going to need a way forward which is not based on insult or narcissism but on an ability to work with those even if you think they might not exactly share your own views. and for at least today donald trump is at the side of my thoughts and john mccain and others like him are at the center. >> scott lucas, we thank you for your analysis and of course your

perspective. >> thank you. now to the pope. wrapping up a weekend trip in ireland and there he asked for forgiveness for years of unchecked sexual abuse by members of the clergy. >> thousands of people gathered in dublin's phoenix park sunday to see the pope say mass. he told the crowd the church failed to provide abuse survivors with justice or the truth. but the pope himself is facing claims from a former top vatican official that he ignored allegations for years that a cardinal was abusing victims. >> let's hear more about how the hope is responding to those claims. cnn's delia gallagher live in rome. do people feel the words he uttered go far enough?

>> throughout the weekend in ireland we kept hearing over and over again that people didn't want to hear just words, they wanted action. they certainly got words from the pope, words of sorrow and regret and asking for forgiveness. but the action part remains to be seen for many people. and i think especially now given the new wach of the pennsylvania grand jury report in the united states there are still some unanswered questions for people in the vatican in terms of how they are addressing this scandal, a scandal which frankly has been going on at least since 2002 with the boston allegations. so i think the short answer is no, george, that people are not yet satisfied with the response from the vatican. >> also, delia, let's talk about the allegation of this former archbishop that the pope knew about sexual abuse allegations

against a cardinal in 2013 but that the pope did nothing about it. >> well, george, that was a real bombshell that the archbishop, the former envoy to washington, d.c. releasing a statement, 11-page statement implicating pope francis and a number of other church officials for knowing about the allegations about cardinal mccarrick. the pope did respond to a question on the plane returning to rome last night. he said that he had read the 11-page document and here is what he told journalists. he said read the statement carefully and make your own judgment, i will not say a single word on this. i believe the statement speaks for itself. when some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, i may speak. so george, the pope really not confirming or denying the allegations, and depending on whether or not you are a supporter of francis, his response will be satisfactory or

not. of course supporters of francis saying that perhaps the archbishop as a conservative has an ax to grind with pope francis but others saying, well, the allegations are simple enough to respond to if the pope wanted to. so right now we'll have to see whether or not the pressure builds from within the church really regarding these allegations or whether people are satisfied with pope francis's response. george? >> delia gallagher live for us in rome. delia, thank you. mark healy is a member of ending clergy abuse, a global-wide group of abuse survivors and act visitors. and he joins us now from dublin, ireland. thank you, sir, for being with us. >> how are you? >> as a survivor yourself what is your reaction to pope francis refusing to say a single word about this letter from a former archbishop about the pope allegedly covering up abuse in

the church? >> i think the pope is on the run. i think he's firefighting and he's been firefighting since his major gaffe back in january when he was leaving chile with his infamous all is lies, all is calumny. it's a comment that should be directed toward the church and the hierarchy. it is they who are covering up, concealing and lying to everybody about what really has gone on in the past and what is going on to address it. pope francis has taken his name from a saint whose prayer is all about action. this pope is not living up to any action. he's on the run. and i think now it's a house divided and it's going to fall. i think these allegations raised against him and his knowledge of mccarrick clearly show that there's so much happening in

respect of what needs to be said about their knowledge of the abuse scandal itself that they don't know and can't get their messages straight. they're now infighting. this is very serious. this is the beginning of the end as i see it. and certainly we in eca are calling for a new paradigm, a new discussion so that we can get to the bottom of what are the injustices that so many survivors worldwide have had to suffer and endure from this particular institution. >> i do want to talk to you about the action you're calling for in just a moment. but i want to get to the fact that the former archbishop didn't offer any evidence to support his accusation and we don't know what his motivation may be for going public with this accusation. some have suggested that he's a conservative and this is his way of attacking pope francis. the pope, though, says the letter speaks for itself and people should make their own

judgment. so what is your judgment when you look at the wording of that letter? >> well, i have to say, i haven't seen the wording of his 11-page letter. i've been reading about what has been this disclosure and this call for his resignation. my response to that is certainly that there needs to be a robust response to the points raised by this particular cleric, or hierarchical figure, by the pope. and the pope is not going to discuss i think these matters in public because then other revelations will certainly come of this. so no, there is more in this story and certainly my belief is that the accusations are true and that there was widespread knowledge about mccarrick. >> i mean, one would think that if they weren't true he would say that straight out. but it's very difficult to make any judgment at this point. but i want to go back to the question of actions because many catholics have called for less words and more action and some in america want the bishops to

resign. what action would you like to see the church take in response to this abuse now? >> the setting up of a forum in which we can have a truth and reconciliation worked out. and it has to be on an international footing. but before all of that we're looking for full disclosure and frank disclosure of all the church records. so that starts with what was gathered by his predecessor, pope benedict, whilst he was head of the cds. calling for all globally to be sent to the doctrine of the kong rgation of the faith so we know these files are in the vatican. we also need to know worldwide in each of diocese, archdiocese that there are files held there also and not to leave out a major gripe, those of mission orders of congregations whose superiors also hold enormous data and information about their

members. later this morning we will be revealing additional names that were revealed here in ireland, 88 of them already, and that number is going to be extended this morning here in ireland. and eca's going to release that with bishops accountability, or bishop accountability, at 10:30. >> mark healy, thank you so much for talking with us. we do appreciate it. still ahead, another mass shooting in the united states. investigators trying to learn why a man opened fire during a video game tournament in florida. you won't see these folks at the post office. they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how to they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters. ship packages. all the amazing services of the post office, right on your computer. get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale

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another mass shooting in the united states has brought heartache to the state of florida. this was at a video game tournament in the city of jacksonville. two people were killed when a young man opened fire and then killed himself. fleece have identified him as a 24-year-old from baltimore. >> his motive is not clear, but we do know that he was competing in a tournament which was being livestreamed online. we're about to show you video of one of the games going on when the shooting started. we do warn you you may find the video disturbing.

you can hear the gunshots and at least one person reacting to being shot. listen. >> got a lot of good games going on. >> it's going to be hard to get them on stream. it's a lot. >> it's not a tough out today -- [ gunshots ]. oh. [ bleep ]. >> ow! oh, [ bleep ]! what are you shooting with? oh! [ gunshots ] [ scream ] >> chilling audio there. and we now know the identities of the two people who were killed. one was taylor robertson. he was 27 years old, from west virginia. >> and eli clayton, 22 years old, a former high school football player from california. robertson's gaming sponsor tweeted that the men were great competitors and well-loved members of the madden community.

>> investigators have searched the suspect's family home in baltimore. >> a neighbor says that he was rarely seen. cnn's polo sandoval has this report. >> police in jacksonville, florida confirm the suspect behind the nation's latest mass shooting is a 24-year-old man from baltimore, maryland. police confirming his identity. david katz is among the three people dead at the scene. katz allegedly opened fire at a video game competition sunday afternoon inside that jacksonville restaurant. police also believe that katz was a participant at this video game tournament though they have not confirmed a motive only saying he used a handgun if the shooting. investigators say katz shot and killed two people. nine others were also shot and are recovering from their injuries. police now asking the community for any video. they're already going over that footage that already has been circulating online that shows the seconds before those shots rang out offering a picture

inside that game bar. investigators also conducting a search of the suspect's vehicle as they try to piece together a motive in this case. polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >> joining me now to talk more about this disturbing story is john matthews. he is a former dallas police officer and the author he of "mass shootings: six steps to survival." thank you so much for being with us. >> good to be here. >> the details of course are chilling. 24-year-old david katz of baltimore killed two people, wounded nine others, then turned the gun on himself and took his own life. we don't know the motive just yet, but how does something like this happen and what security measures needed to be in place at this tournament to try to prevent a shooting like this? >> i can tell you at any public gathering we need to put security measures in place that are going to mitigate the chances of a shooting like this

happening. we've got to as the public enters check them just like we check them at athletic events and high-profile public facilities. anytime we've got the public getting together we've got to check people, check their bags, and make sure they're not bringing a weapon in. in this instance we had a video game conference going on and the shooter obviously knew about that. i've watched many of these videos, and the thing that disturbs me the most is that you watch the videos and these young people kept playing the games. they heard the shots, they saw the shooting occurring, and they were playing the games. they were so focused, so intent. and so this shooter really had a run of the whole place. >> yeah. i don't think any of these video gamers had any idea what was actually taking place. your book, though, is about how to survive a shooting like this. what should people do when they're taken by surprise by an incident like this? a lot of the time not even realizing that a shooting is taking place.

>> well, the first step is you've got to be situationally aware. you've got to be aware of your surroundings. that was the sad thing about today is these kids were focused on qualifying for this tournament, they were focused on the game and you could hear the gunshots and see the games they were still playing. so you've got to be aware of your surroundings. the first and best thing you can do is exit the area, get away from the gunman as fast as you can in a safe manner. that usually means not going out the primary exit but going out some secondary exit away from the gunman. if you can't exit, the best thing to do is find cover. anything that will stop bullets. that's what you're looking for. it might be video game machines. it might be furniture. soda machines. anything that will stop bullets. if you can't find cover, find concealment. concealment is anything that will hide you. if you can stay out of that shooter's line of sight your chances for surviving an incident like this go up greatly. >> now, you did touch on this,

but -- when we talked about security, but what does america need to do to stop these mass shootings and when will the politicians think enough is enough? what will it take? >> well, i can't speak for the politicians. we've had these incidents for the last 30, 40 years. so they need to get it together in washington and figure out what they're going to do on a national level. but we as the citizens, we've got to be prepared. we've got to be trained. we've got to know how to respond. and we've got to beef up security at all of these events, whether it's an outdoor concert or a video game tournament or anywhere that large numbers of the public are getting together. we've got to make security a priority for all americans. >> john matthews, thank you so much for talking with us. we do appreciate it. >> thank you, rosemary. still ahead here on "cnn newsroom," remembering a maverick. we'll hear from those who worked closely with the u.s. senator john mccain and learn what it

was that earned him that name, the maverick.

very warm welcome back to our viewers joining us here in the united states and of course all around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. another mass shooting in the united states. two people were killed in jacksonville, florida when a man opened fire at a video game tournament on sunday. nine other people were taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds.

the suspect identified as a 24-year-old from baltimore, maryland used a handgun, then killed himself. his motive unclear. pope francis says for now he will not say a single word about claims that he knew of sexual abuse allegations against a cardinal for years and chose to do nothing about it. an archbishop made the accusation in an 11-page letter and is calling for the pope to resign on his way back to rome from ireland. pope francis told reporters the letter speaks for itself and said people should make their own judgment. the late u.s. senator john mccain will be honored for five days this week in three locations. mccain died saturday after a bout with brain cancer. he will be honored in his home state of arizona, then at the u.s. capitol in washington, then laid to rest at the u.s. naval academy in maryland. well, some of those who knew senator mccain best spoke with

cnn on sunday. >> his voice was important, has been for years, but never more important than the past year. and that's one thing that i expressed to the family, the gratitude of all of us, that they took such good care of john and made sure that he was able to speak in these last few months when it was so important. it's tough to have a voice like that silenced but this voice for civility, to put, you know, the country above your party, these are things that he taught for years and never more important than the last year. >> over the years we had a wonderful relationship and he was a real mentor to me. i think this is a part of john mccain that a lot of people don't know about, is that he took younger senators under his wing.

and in my case he taught me so much about national security and foreign policy, even when we didn't always agree. i'll miss how much fun he was and how much i learned from him. and he leaves a big hole in my heart. my condolences go out to cindy. i talked to her just about ten days ago, and i knew the end was coming. but he is irreplaceable. >> it was just an honor to be in his presence and to watch the kind of respect world leaders had for him, to watch the way he struck up such an easy relationship, demeanor with others. it was a treat to be around him. >> john faces his prognosis the same way he did everything else in life. matter of fact, straightforward, incredible sense of humor, but also every time we visited reminding us that your time on this earth is finite. nobody gets out of here alive,

as he said to me. and that you should make every day count. he loved the year he had. he had some wonderful times with his family, got to see a lot of friends, did some really important work right up until the very end. that's just so john mccain. >> it is fair to say that john mccain made his mark not only in the united states but around the world. and to talk more about that let's bring in cnn's ivan watson for a look at senator mccain's legacy around the globe. ivan, a pleasure to have you with us there live in hong kong. looking back, some of mr. mccain's most recent comments came to the contrary of the u.s. president's concept of america first, which to many world leaders translated as america alone. in fact, mr. mccain constantly reminded allies that america is with them despite the president's tariff wars, his divisive rhetoric toward them, and cozying up to traditional adversaries. >> that's right. and he was -- had a very large

international stature and posture for a u.s. lawmaker. and he was very outspoken as well. when it comes to the middle east, for example. and listen, some of his suggestions, policies were quite controversial. in 2002, a year before the u.s. invaded iraq in the aftermath of 9/11, mccain was out forcefully arguing for regime change in iraq and continued to argue in favor of sending more troops and weapons to iraq as that war got increasingly bloody. and it wasn't until his memoir, which just came out this year, that john mccain acknowledged that that was essentially a mistake. here's a line from that book, "the restless wave," where he writes, "the iraq war with its cost in lives and treasure and security can't be judged as anything other than a mistake, a

very serious one. sxif to accept my share of the blame for it." a more recent comment being in syria, i recall when i was covering the refugee engs disfrom syria in twvtd and 2013 john mccain was visiting refugee camps along the turkish border. he was calling for syrian rebels to be armed. and remember he made a surprise visit across the border into syria with syrian rebels arguing that they should be armed because russia and iran were arming assad's forces, so to make it fair you should arm the syrian rebels. and time has shown that the rebels have been very much on the losing side of that conflict as well, and that's somewhere where he was at odds with the obama administration. he was also a fierce critic of the kremlin, and that's something that put him very much at odds with president trump, the leader of his own republican party. when president trump in an

interview responded to a question saying hey, is president putin a killer, president trump kind of famously said hey, do you think america is so innocent? well, john mccain, he lashed out at that on the senate floor, showing images of kremlin critics who had either been killed or alleged they'd been poisoned for their criticism of the kremlin. take a listen to this excerpt from that speech. >> putin is a killer, and he's a killer. i repeat, there is no moral equivalent between that butcher and thug and kgb colonel and the united states of america. and to allege some kind of moral equivalence between the two is either terribly misinformed or incredibly biased. neither. neither can be accurate in any way. >> so george, while the president of ukraine, which has been fighting a russian-backed

separatist movement for years in eastern ukraine, while he has expressed his condolences and applauded john mccain's legacy, russian lawmakers have been on the opposite side of that. russian state tv calling mccain a symbol of russophobia and russian lawmakers saying he had the mentality of the cold war. george? >> ivan, let's look back at the past as well. mccain fought in the vietnam war, a nation where he was captured. he was tortured. and when he returned to the united states he was part of the push to normalize relations between the united states and vietnam. >> and this is remarkable because he says he was terribly tortured, he wasted away to barely more than 100 pounds during his 5 1/2 years as a p.o.w. in vietnam. he was captured while on a bombing raid over hanoi. and then he was shot down. and despite that ordeal he was a prominent voice in the u.s.

congress lobbying for resumption of ties with vietnam. lobbying for raising the u.s. embargo against vietnam. and made multiple trips back to vietnam, back to the infamous hanoi hilton. it's now a museum. i've been there, and i've seen among the displays there images of mccain when he was a prisoner and then when he had returned. he applauded the clinton administration's decision in 1995 to resume relations with vietnam and was a booster of that. and he has even been kind of applauded by some of his vietnamese former prison wardens who've called him a good guy and said they were able to view each other as opponents on the other side of the battlefield. but brought together by their humanity. sew didn't work just across partisan lines in the halls of congress but in also international affairs as well. >> ivan watson with the world view of john mccain.

thank you so much for your time, ivan. well, the united nations has just published a long-awaited report on human rights abuses against myanmar's rohingya muslims. we will have a live report for you on the other side of the break. do stay with us.

the united nations has just issued a blistering new report about violence against the rohingya in myanmar. it says the country's top military general should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in rakhine straight. cnn's alexandra field is tracking this story for us from hong kong. she joins us now live with the very latest. so alex, talk to us about what exactly is in this report. of course we know, we've just told our viewers accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity. will we ever see these top military generals prosecuted for these crimes? >> well, look, these are incredibly strong words we are

hearing for the first time. in the past we'd heard u.s. officials talk about how this was a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. but now you are hearing this commission say these top generals need to be sxregd also prosecuted for genocide. so certainly this is the kind of report many were hoping for. those who feel there has been no justice for the rohingya people. the report does make a number of recommendations including that this now be referred to the international criminal court or to another tribunal that would be gathered to take on this case. it also recommends that an independent body continue to do the work that this commission has done to try and unearth the crimes against the rohingya people. and certainly, rosemary, this has been extraordinarily difficult work to do because when you read through the analysis they put forward they make it very clear they have not had the participation of myanmar's government, they have not been allowed on the ground in myanmar, so they have had to rely on hundreds of interviews, videos, pictures and satellite images to try to piece together

what happened to the rohingya people and who exactly perpetuated the crimes against them. they document of course in this report instances of indiscriminate killings of people trying to flee their villages, entire villages in northern myanmar being torched, they say by members of the military, assaults on children, gang rapes, horrors that we have long heard about. but again, this is the first time that you're hearing this commission from the u.n., this fact-finding mission say that this amounts to genocide and that there should be prosecution for it, rosemary. >> and alex, the u.n. report also says that myanmar's state counselor, aung san suu kyi, did not use her de facto position as head of government or her moral authority to stop these events in rakhine state. what could this mean for su suu kyi? >> this is part of the report that is sure to garner a lot of international attention. there has been fierce international criticism for aung san suu kyi for failing to come out in greater support of the

rohingya people. it was just last week that the state counselor of the de facto leader of myanmar came out and talked about the real threat of terrorism that had led to the violence that had erupted in rakhine a year ago as she had put it. this will certainly garner a lot of attention. what the report says is it points out the fact the civilian government and its leaders don't have the scope to control the military in myanmar but it does say she could have used her moral authority to work to prevent some of the crimes against the rohingya. a little background for our viewers who are recalling what happened just a year ago. we are talking about the recogniza muslims. they are a minority group in myanmar which is a predominantly british country. there was an attack staged by rohingya militants on border security posts on august 25th of 2017. the military responded in a way that is documented in shocking detail in this report. but this report says that the military certainly went well beyond the scope of any kind of campaign that it could have or should have conducted.

the military had long contended they were working to clear out militants who had staged that attack. what we know now, rosemary-s that some 700,000 rohingya muslims fled what they called persecution running for their lives over the border from myanmar into bangladesh in the months that followed that attack that was staged back on august 25th. >> alexandra field, we thank you for that live report coming to us from hong kong. a thaw in relations between north and south korea brought together some family members separated for decades by the war on the peninsula. >> it was the second round of reunions in the past week organized by the red cross. cnn's paula hancocks has more now of these very emotional and heartfelt visits. >> reporter: this rouchbd family reunions between north and south korea is now over. it's been going on for a week. it ended on sunday. and more than 160 families were reunited over that time.

but that is a tiny fraction of the amount of people that would like to be reconnected. these are families, many of whom were torn apart during the korean war back in the 1950s and they haven't been able to get in contact with each other since many not even knowing until they knew they were part of this reunion, whether their loved ones were even still alive on the other side of the border. 57,000 people were eligible to be part of this just from the south korean side, and there was a very small fraction of that that were considered the lucky ones and able to go to north korea to be part of these reunions. so we have been seeing some extremely emotional images of families who have not seen each other in decades reconnecting for just a very brief amount of time. it is a short visit. it's over three days. but it's very choreographed. it's very controlled, just how long these families are able to even be in the same room. so an extremely difficult time even for those who have been

chosen and are considered the lucky ones. now, we heard from the red cross that they are hoping for more reunions. the head of the red cross saying that -- he was saying as early as october could potentially be a time for the next round of reunions. now, this has not been confirmed from the north korean side, and that is key. but we spoke to the head of the red cross here in south korea before he went to north korea. he said he is talking to his north korean counterparts about this, he wants more reunions, he wants larger numbers to be involved in this, and different ways of staying in touch, even after they have managed to reconnect. obviously a very difficult situation for tens of thousands of people, most of whom are in their 80s and 90s. so it's certainly the case that time is running out. paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. >> we'll take a very short break here. but it is a curtain call for one of america's most beloved playwrights. we look back at the life and work of neil simon. are you a christian author with

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! one of america's most successful playwrights has died. we're talking about the tony award winner neil simon.

he was 91 years old. >> the playwright and screenwriter will long be remembered for his popular comedies including "the odd couple," "barefoot in the park" and "the sunshine boys." cnn's sara sidner has more on simon's memorable contributions to the stage. >> reporter: it didn't really matter who the stars were. if neil simon wrote it, people wanted to see it. "time" magazine wants once called him the patron saint of laughter. a native new yorker, simon learned his craft in the early days of television, writing for comedian sid caesar. >> we didn't know how to write. we would just string old jokes together until we learned how to create them. >> reporter: simon later wrote a play about tv comedy writers, "laughter on the 23rd floor." >> i want to be a writer. i want to write comedy. >> a comedy writer? oy vey. why? you really want to be like me, like val, like ira, like any of us? >> more than anything else in the world. >> helen, you know us. we're disgusting.

>> reporter: many of simon's plays were part autobiography. his 1961 broadway debut, "come blow your horn," was based on simon's relationship with his older brother danny. simon later remembered how worried he was when that first play opened. >> if that play failed, then i go to hollywood and i write some sitcom for the rest of my life. >> reporter: "come blow your horn" did not fail. it ran 677 performances and later became a movie starring none other than frank sinatra. a few years later simon's "barefoot in the park" helped make robert redford a star. and in 1965 simon won his first tony, for "the odd couple," the story of two mismatched roommates, oscar and felix. >> everything do you irritates me! and when you're not here the things i know you're going to do when you come in irritate me. >> reporter: "the odd couple" was a huge hit that inspired a successful movie and a long-running television series, and it firmly established simon as broadway's most popular

playwright. other hits followed. "plaza suite," "the last of the red hot lovers." "the sunshine boys" just to name a few. no theater season seemed to be complete without another new play, sometimes a new musical, featuring simon's one-liners. there were screenplays too, for movies like "murder by death" and "the good-bye girl," for which richard dreyfuss would win an academy award for best actor. critics often dismiss simon as a mere joke writer. >> because i wrote a play almost every year, 27 plays in 30 years is almost every year, so anyone who writes that many plays it couldn't be very hard for him. >> reporter: simon never gave up comedy, but as he got older his scripts became more serious. and in 1991, three decades after his broadway debut, simon won the pulitzer prize for a coming of age play that mixed comedy with sadness, "lost in yonkers." >> i forgot my key.

>> downstairs. >> they named a new york theater after neil simon. but simon's real monument is made of laughter. as new generations of actors continue to revive simon's plays, that laughter will continue for many years to come. >> the laughter that meant so much to so many people. thank you so much for being with us for this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell. >> and i'm rosemary church. "early start" is next for our viewers here in the united states and for everyone else "cnn newsroom" continues with hannah vaughan jones in london. have yourselves a great day. . . .

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