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| British Scouts who withdrew from the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, enter a hotel in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap |
3 ministries, North Jeolla provincial gov't face criticism
By Ko Dong-hwan
Despite six years of preparation for the ongoing World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, the event has been branded a "disaster" due to its horrific campsite conditions amid an extreme heat wave and poor administrative management. Critics point to the lack of a main control tower as the biggest reason behind the fiasco.
The quadrennial event, held on the site of a huge land reclamation project in Buan, started off with multiple organizers. Three of the five co-chairs on the organizing committee are from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ― a structure that makes it easy for no one to claim primary responsibility for the problems. Already, British, U.S., Singaporean and Korean Scouts have left the campsite due to safety concerns.
Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, one of the five co-chairs of the organizing committee, said on Friday in Saemangeum that the event had been so far spearheaded by the gender ministry and the North Jeolla provincial government.
The provincial government, however, said the Jamboree's organizing committee hinges on the gender equality ministry alone, and that the provincial government "only supports decisions made by the ministry."
The provincial government is also taking flak as Saemangeum, a land reclamation project on the country's west coast, has failed to prove itself as an "ideal camping ground" as it previously promoted.
The safety ministry also faces criticism for failing to protect participants from the heat.
However, among the Jamboree organizers, the gender equality ministry is in the "hottest" seat, as its ministers have served as a co-chair of the organizing committee since July 2020 when it was formed.
In addition, Choi Chang-haeng, the secretary-general of the committee, served as a policy director of the ministry until 2020.
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| U.S. Scouts leave the 25th World Scout Jamboree site in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, Sunday. Yonhap |
Interior Minister Lee and Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon only joined the committee as co-chairs in February.
While the Jamboree was in chaos, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo made a belated announcement, Friday, that the central government would take charge of the Jamboree until the end of the event. So far, the government has basically taken the position that the Jamboree is a private event because its secretariat is comprised of more civilians than public officials from the ministries.
Hours after the government's announcement, the British Scouts decided to pull out of the Jamboree and move to Seoul, while the U.S. contingent also left Saemangeum for U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
The organizing committee had manuals on how to respond to extreme heat and other scenarios but without centralized leadership, the committee lost momentum in carrying out its job, according to the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements in North Jeolla Province. The group said if there had been a control tower among the organizers from the onset of the committee, things would have been "a lot different."
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| Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, right, speaks while Gender Equality and Family Minister Kim Hyun-sook listens at a press conference at World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, Sunday. Yonhap |
