Scout exodus continues as local governments prepare welcome

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Scout exodus continues as local governments prepare welcome

Published: 06 Aug. 2023, 18:54 Updated: 06 Aug. 2023, 19:34

U.S. scouts drink water as they prepare to leave the Jamboree campsite in Buan County, North Jeolla, on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Delegations continued to exit the troubled 25th World Scout Jamboree on Sunday despite the Korean government’s additional promises to ensure the event’s safe continuation, with a group of 80 Korean scouts and their leaders blaming their departure on the organizing committee’s alleged failure to properly address their concerns about a man who entered the women’s shower several days prior.

Their decision to leave came as British, U.S. and Singaporean scout delegations departed the Jamboree campsite over the weekend.

The leader of the North Jeolla Province Scout Association, Kim Tae-yeon, announced at a press conference on Sunday that his delegation would withdraw from the event campsite after the Jamboree Committee gave a “simple warning” to a male Thai scout leader who used the women’s shower on early Wednesday morning.

A leader from the North Jeolla Province Scout Association gesticulates angrily at a press conference held Sunday, where he blasted the Jamboree committee for allegedly failing to address an earlier incident where a male scout leader used the women's shower. [YONHAP]

Kim said around 100 people witnessed the incident, but claimed the event’s organizing committee had taken no action, instead attributing the incident to a “misunderstanding.”

In an internal message sent on Thursday by the Safe from Harm team of the World Organization of the Scouting Movement, which was seen by the Korea JoongAng Daily, the male individual in question was “alone showering in the female shower area early in the morning” when he was heard by a female scout, who asked him to leave and “called a male colleague to help remove him from the shower.”

The Safe from Harm team said in its internal message that “it conducted an independent investigation and deemed the incident was a misunderstanding,” and that the man was “given a warning and reminded of the Jamboree Code of Conduct.”

Although the team said the man “later issued a written apology to those affected,” the North Jeolla delegation leader said the scouts from North Jeolla “are scared and do not want to remain on the Jamboree campsite.”

He added that police recognized the seriousness of the case and referred it to the North Jeolla Police Agency’s investigation unit that deals with criminal incidents involving with women and youth.

The North Jeolla scout association, which hails from the province where the Jamboree is being held, is the fourth to say they will leave the campsite over safety concerns regarding the organization of the event taking place at Saemangeum, an estuarine tidal flat with little shade located in Buan County, North Jeolla.

Hundreds of participants have been treated for heat exhaustion and other ailments, including bug bites and Covid-19, since the event began Wednesday amid one of the country’s hottest summers in years.

The Jamboree’s organizing committee has come under withering criticism for failing to make adequate preparations for the heat wave currently gripping the country.

Temperatures across Korea have regularly hit or exceeded 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) this past week, with some regions seeing temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius this week.

On Friday, the mercury at Saemangeum hit 34 degrees Celsius, but the humidity made it feel closer to 40 degrees Celsius.

The British scout delegation — the largest foreign contingent at the Jamboree with 4,500 participants — was the first to announce their exit from the campsite on Friday evening, followed shortly after by the 1,500-strong U.S. and 60-member Singaporean scout delegations on Saturday.

Together, British and U.S. scout delegations made up approximately 14 percent of the 43,000 participants at the Jamboree.

British scouts leave the Saemangeum campsite of the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Buan County, North Jeolla, on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Around 1,000 British participants left Saemangeum for hotel accommodation in Seoul on Sunday, completing an exodus that began the previous day.

In a statement released Friday night, Scouts UK said they will work with Korean authorities “on a program of activities so our young people still get the most from their time in Korea.”

Approximately 800 U.S. scouts also departed Saemangeum for Camp Humphreys, the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on 17 buses on Sunday morning, with the remaining 700 scouts following in the afternoon.

The Korean government pledged this past weekend to dedicate additional resources to support participants remaining at the Jamboree, which will continue after most other national scout delegations agreed on Saturday to carry on with the event.

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government to mount an “all-out effort” to maintain sanitation and hygiene at the event, with a particular focus on preventing food poisoning, after receiving a report on conditions at the Jamboree from Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, who visited the campsite on Friday and Saturday, according to a press release by his office on Sunday.

Photographs of communal facilities at the campsite showed muddy shower booths with blocked drains, overflowing toilets and trash bins and moldy or inadequate rations of food distributed to Jamboree participants.

While Han on Saturday noted that there have been significant improvements in the campsite’s hygiene facilities, he said that the government “will deploy more than 700 service personnel” to maintain cleanliness.

He further mentioned that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has dispatched an additional 104 air-conditioned buses, while the Korean military has sent 64 canopies to provide shade.

Sixty more medical staff consisting of 28 doctors, 18 nurses and 13 emergency personnel have also arrived on site to relieve pressure on the makeshift hospital at the campsite.

In light of heat-related safety concerns, the K-Pop concert originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed to Aug. 11, with the stage being moved to the World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, North Jeolla.

Park Bo-gyoon, the minister of culture, sports and tourism, said the new venue was chosen for its capacity, proximity to Saemangeum and its ample roof cover.

He also said the line-up of K-Pop stars at the event had been changed, but refused to confirm rumors that internationally renowned boy band BTS might make an appearance.

To relieve pressure at the Jamboree campsite, municipal and provincial governments across Korea have also begun arranging alternative tourism and cultural immersion programs to accommodate visiting scouts.

British scouts tour the Myeong-dong shopping area in Jung District, central Seoul, on Sunday afternoon. [YONHAP]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government, which will play host to the British scout contingent, said Sunday that it plans to offer an array of “cultural experiences and challenges” to Jamboree participants, including four dedicated double-decker tour buses to show British scouts around the city on Sunday night.

To accommodate the scouts’ stay, the city will pull up the opening of the Sejong Summer Festival at Gwanghwamun Plaza to Aug. 10 and allow scouts to enter without reserving tickets so they can attend before their scheduled departure on Aug. 13.

The Busan municipal government and tourism board have also made plans to host up to 10,000 scouts and guide them through the city’s seaside attractions, including Haeundae Beach and Taejongdae Cliff.

Meanwhile, the North Chungcheong provincial government is creating a six-day tourism program for the scouts that would house them in university dormitories, training centers and hotels and show them local sights in Cheongju, Boeun, Chungju and Danyang.

At the request of the Jamboree’s organizing committee, the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism will open around 170 of its temples nationwide to allow camping or lodging by visiting scouts, who will also be able to undertake temple stay programs.