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Former President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100; Officials Jeju Pilot Reported Bird Strike Before Airplane Crashed in South Korea. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 30, 2024 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Firstly, he wanted there to be peace between Egypt and Israel, but he also wanted to further negotiations towards Palestinian autonomy. He wanted negotiations to be forwarded for Palestinian statehood, for the two-state solution, and that is something that eluded him during his presidency. It is something that has eluded all leaders up until the current day as well.

We also saw that once President Carter left office, he then, in the years later, became more critical of Israel. It is something he was obviously able to vocalize more freely once he was no longer president. But he did write a book in 2006 called Palestine, Peace, Not Apartheid, a very provocative title which he acknowledged was provocative.

He said he wanted to open the conversation, to start the conversation, and in the book said that the U.S. needed to be more unbiased when it was looking at the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli leaders in the occupied territories, and obviously using the word apartheid, a very provocative word referring back to South Africa's former repressive system of apartheid, and it did create a backlash among Israel's allies.

But he was unrepentant. He said it was important to have these difficult conversations -- Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, thank you.

President Carter also making a huge impact in Asia. We'll take a look at how Jimmy Carter is being remembered there just ahead.

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[04:35:06]

FOSTER: Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States. He was in office from 1977 to 1981. As president, Carter spearheaded the Camp David Accords. Those agreements established the framework for the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

After his presidency, he and his wife founded the Carter Center. Its mission is to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering. Carter was honored with the first United Nations Human Rights Prize in 1998 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

He didn't shy away from controversy. Starting in 2008, Carter met with senior Hamas officials, and in 2012, the former president wrote in a "New York Times" opinion piece that the U.S. was no longer a champion of human rights in light of drone strikes and recent legislative action.

When you consider Jimmy Carter's greatest accomplishments, the Camp David Accords are likely to top that list, but as Will Ripley now explains, that's not necessarily how Carter himself saw things.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A smile and a handshake between two very different men who saw a common future. U.S. President Jimmy Carter and China's communist leader, Deng Xiaoping both knew the fate of the world would one day hinge on relations between the U.S. and China.

It was 1979. Washington established diplomatic ties with Communist Beijing. For a president who got a deal done between Egypt and Israel and struck a nuclear accord with the Soviet Union, Carter believed ending hostility with Beijing was among his greatest achievements.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: What are you most proud of?

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I help promote peace between other countries that were potentially at war. I reached out to long term adversaries like China.

RIPLEY (voice-over): His decision came at a cost. The U.S. no longer officially recognizes Taiwan. U.S. troops pulled out. The island democracy of 24 million people now facing the growing threat of a possible Chinese attack.

LEV NACHMAN, POLITICS SCIENTIST, NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY: From Taiwan's perspective, that meant that it officially became a unrecognized state. And that really is what put Taiwan in this very compromised position internationally.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan, regularly selling weapons to its military. China experiencing huge economic growth due in large part to its relationship with the U.S. Now China is the world's second largest economy, but prosperity did not trigger political reform. Chinese leader Xi Jinping could potentially stay in power for life with a military more powerful than ever. Bilateral relations dropping to the lowest level in years. Carter always maintained people to people ties will prevail.

CARTER: The best thing to do is to try to find some accommodation with China and to respect each other and to try to find ways to cooperate rather than to confront one another with the differences that do exist.

RIPLEY (voice-over): He made several trips to China after leaving office, warmly welcomed by top leaders. The 39th president of the United States proud of his legacy, normalizing ties with China, now seen by many as the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taiwan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: CNN correspondent Marc Stewart is following breaking news for us from Beijing. I know you've had a statement from the government there. Can we interpret anything from them about how they look back at, you know, President Carter's legacy and what the current administration are doing?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Max, the Chinese government today released a statement. It came after a question from a reporter during a daily press briefing. But it does give a lot of credit to this idea that the Carter administration created this framework, this structure for these diplomatic talks to take place.

If we look back over the Biden administration, for example, we have seen some very significant lows. And now in more recent years, things have been built back up to much more of a solid diplomatic relationship. In fact, today, a Chinese spokesperson really did single out the president as a key promoter and decision maker in this diplomatic relation between these two very different nations.

Let's listen to some of the remarks today from spokeswoman Mao Ning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAO NING, CHINESE MOFA SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Former President Carter was a driving force and decision maker behind the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. and had long made important contributions to the development of China-U.S. relations and the friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, which we highly value.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:40:00]

STEWART: It was just after five o'clock this morning here in China that we learned of President Carter's passing. It has been a trending topic on social media, including the social media platform Weibo. I want to share with you some of the responses that we have been tracking throughout the day since his death.

Among the responses, someone said: Good old Carter, a U.S. president who truly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Among all the living former U.S. presidents, he is relatively friendly to China, was another response. Someone also noting this is the last foreigner to appear in history textbooks.

As we talked about earlier, the relationship between the U.S. and China has also been complicated by this new position that the United States, at least since the 1970s, took toward Taiwan. At this point, no response that we have seen officially from the government in Taipei.

Also interesting to point out that the relatively new Japanese prime minister, he also issued a statement today really lauding the former president for his work as a diplomat, not only during his time in the White House, but also in his post-presidency era. As we just saw, Max, the former president spent a lot of time in China once he left the White House.

FOSTER: OK, Marc Stewart, thank you so much for that update.

Coming up, desperate relatives of the victims of Sunday's horrific plane crash gather at Muan Airport for any information on their loved ones in South Korea.

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[04:45:00]

FOSTER: New information now on the Jeju Jet Airplane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea on Sunday. Officials now say the pilot reported a bird strike in the minutes before crashing. They say the pilot said Mayday, Mayday, Mayday and used the terms bird strike and go around, go around, indicating the pilot decided to delay the landing. South Korea's acting president ordering an emergency safety inspection of the country airline operations system and the country's transport ministry says it'll inspect each of the country's Boeing 737-800 planes.

CNN correspondent Mike Valerio live at the airport in Muan, South Korea, where so much is having to be considered and there's so much emotion, Mike.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max, and I mean, the emotions are running high here, even though the sun has set. It is after -- it is nightfall now. And, you know, Max, it is harrowing to be this close, only a few meters away from the wreckage.

And we're going to show you the tableau and zoom in to different parts of what we're seeing. First and foremost, the nexus point of this disaster zone is certainly the tail, the section where the two survivors were rescued. Both of them are in Seoul hospitals right now, and they're certainly part of the key to determining what exactly happened.

We've been here for hours, Max, and I can tell you there are still scores of people here, but there are hundreds, Max, hundreds of members of the military, people in forensic white coats analyzing parts of the debris, searching for human remains for the myriad family members that are just about a kilometer away from where we're standing, huddled together, hushed silent prayers emanating from the corridors of this airport. To pray for answers and certainly finding remnants and remains of their family members.

We also want to point out to the left of our frame of view, you can see the yellow crane towering. Well, the tail is about 15 meters tall, so 20 or so meters tall right there. It's been working more than 24 hours so far.

There's still no time frame on when exactly this wreckage is going to be moved. The airport is closed until Wednesday and you can see Charlie Miller, our photojournalist behind the camera. Let's try to tilt down again to the wreckage that's just beyond the yellow caution tape.

Max, it's so arresting to see pieces of the plane, and I wish it were still daytime because what we were able to see a couple hours ago, besides what you're looking at right now, recognizable pieces of the plane in terms of tray tables, Max, seats that are now mangled metal, those magazines that you see in terms of, you know, things that you can buy, SkyMall type magazines, safety instructional cards. And what really got me was seeing the yellow safety vest inflated, but meters and meters away, thrown like a football field distance away from that tail section.

So still so much going on here in terms of figuring out what happened, as you mentioned, confirmed that the pilot called out a distress call saying that there was a bird strike. But unclear, Max, at this hour, how a bird strike might have led to the cascading chain of events of the landing gear not deploying and leading to this catastrophe -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Mike, I really appreciate that. Thank you for bringing us that scene from such a horrific situation.

Now, for many, President Jimmy Carter is best known for the humanitarian work he performed after leaving the White House. We'll take a look at his legacy ahead.

[04:50:00]

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FOSTER: Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer in the U.S. state of Georgia and a U.S. Navy lieutenant. Before getting into politics, he served one term as Georgia governor before serving as U.S. President from '77 to 1981. Now, Georgia is mourning and honoring his famous son.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has already ordered that flags around the state be flown at half-staff to honor the memory of Jimmy Carter. We have also heard from political leaders across the state praising the 39th President of the United States. And here at the Carter Center, where we are, we have seen how many people, regular people, have come here to bring bouquets of flowers.

They've also brought candles that they have lit right there behind me at the sign. And we also saw a gentleman that brought a jar of peanuts to honor the memory of the peanut farmer who became the 39th President of the United States. And this institution behind me, the Carter Center, is very significant because after leaving the White House, he came back to Georgia and was able, through this place, keep on working on some of the causes that were near and dear to his heart, including promoting democracy, fighting disease and seeking international peace, causes that he took and worked on all over the world.

I was able to have a conversation with Craig Withers earlier. He is the vice president for operations here at the Carter Center. And when I asked him to describe how he is going to remember the 39th President of the United States, he said a couple of things.

Number one, he said he lived a life well lived. And the second thing he said is that Jimmy Carter was a person who stuck to his principles, a very principled individual who always adhered to those principles.

We are also hearing from the senators, both senators here in Georgia. John Ossoff said, for example, that among his lifetime of service and countless accomplishments, President Carter will be remembered for his commitment to democracy and human rights, his enduring faith, his philanthropic leadership and his deep love of family.

We also heard from Senator Rafael Warnock, who called Carter one of his heroes. His leadership was driven by love, his life's project grounded in compassion and a commitment to human dignity.

[04:55:00]

And of course, President Carter was aired and respected around the world. But nothing really compares to the love and pride many people here in Georgia felt for the 39th President of the United States.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, some of President Jimmy Carter's most visible and enduring work happened whilst volunteering with the group Habitat for Humanity, the international non-profit provides affordable housing for families in need. President Carter and his wife spent some four decades volunteering with that group. They led thousands of volunteers in the annual Jimmy and Rosalind Carter work project and Habitat for Humanity says it joins the world in mourning.

The organization's CEO described President Carter's outsized impact.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN RECKFORD, CEO, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: If you say Habitat for Humanity in word association, the first thing most people would say is Jimmy Carter. So they were so connected and I think their personal example and the way they loved so much the work and the connections to the families who are purchasing the homes inspired so many. And then the sustained commitment was so extraordinary.

So, you know, in 1984, Habitat was a tiny organization. And when President and Mrs. Carter rode that bus up to New York City and slept in a church basement to rehab a tenement building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, that's when the world found out about Habitat. And that started a 35 year run of every year going somewhere in the world to build homes alongside families in need.

President Carter told me frequently that working with Habitat for Humanity was the best way he knew to put his Christian faith into action in a very tangible and practical way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. Our breaking news coverage of the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter continues now after the break.

[05:00:00]