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| Workers dismantle tents and other facilities installed for the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. All national delegations began evacuating the Jamboree venue earlier in the day due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun. Yonhap |
Event organizers face scrutiny over mishandling $89 million budget for Jamboree
By Lee Hyo-jin
The ongoing World Scout Jamboree is a major global event the Korean government had been preparing for over six years with an allocated budget of 117.1 billion won ($89 million).
Despite the astronomical budget for preparation, however, the Jamboree got off to a bumpy start.
After approximately 40,000 young Scouts as well as adult volunteers arrived last week at the sunbaked campsite on the reclaimed tidal flat of Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, hundreds suffered from heat exhaustion. But the campsite lacked appropriate facilities and resources necessary to cope with the extreme conditions.
Many participants were disappointed by the lack of shower rooms and toilets and the poor sanitary condition of those facilities. Some Scouts complained about substandard food and a lack of water, likening the conditions to a "refugee camp."
On the fourth official day of the event, the government urgently injected 6.9 billion won to additionally supply necessary items to the campsite such as air-conditioned buses and drinking water. Local firms lent helping hands by donating cooling items, medicines, sunscreen lotion and toilet paper.
While lawmakers' thorough scrutiny is expected on the problem-plagued Jamboree and organizers' negligent management, recent revelations have already shed light on the botched priorities in budget expenditure in preparation for the quadrennial festival.
According to data provided by the North Jeolla Provincial Government, about 74 percent of the total 117.1 billion won, which amounts to about 87 billion won, was spent on the operation of the organizing committee. This includes spending for travel arrangements and a K-pop concert which is set to be held during the closing ceremony.
Just 23.5 billion won was spent building campsite infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, parking lots and cooling tunnels. Only 10 percent of the total spending, or 12.9 billion won, was used for the construction of showers, toilets and drinking water facilities at the campsite.
In the years leading up to the event, 15.6 billion won was spent in 2021 under the previous Moon Jae-in government, while 39.8 billion won and 61.7 billion won were used in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The incumbent Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office in May 2022.
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| Participants of the World Scout Jamboree take down their tents as they prepare to depart from the campsite in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Yonhap |
Speculation is also emerging that government officials wasted the budget on business trips with no apparent relevance to the Jamboree.
According to data from the Ministry of Personnel Management, officials from related bodies including the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, North Jeolla Provincial Government and Buan County made some 100 overseas business trips over the last six years citing preparations for the Jamboree.
In May 2018, five provincial government officials went on an eight-day trip to Switzerland and Italy with the aim to study "successful management cases of the Jamboree event." But these European countries have never hosted a Jamboree.
In October 2019, four Buan County officials traveled to London and France for 10 days in preparation for the Jamboree. London has not hosted the quadrennial festival since the inaugural event was held there in 1920, and the last Jamboree hosted by France was in 1947 in Moisson.
Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, condemned the event organizers and demanded a thorough investigation once the Jamboree ends.
"A significant portion of the 100 billion won budget for the Jamboree has apparently been misused for unnecessary purposes or spent on lavish overseas business trips," he wrote on Facebook, Monday.
Saying that the event would have been successful if the budget had been spent appropriately, he called for thorough scrutiny to examine how the money has "evaporated."
Saemangeum was chosen as the venue for the 25th World Scout Jamboree in August 2017. In December 2018, the Special Act on Support for the Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree was passed at the National Assembly, providing a basis for the allocation of the budget and the formation of the organizing committee.
When the committee kicked off in 2020, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family and a lawmaker representing a constituency in North Jeolla Province were appointed as the two co-chairpersons.
In February this year, the committee appointed three more chairpersons ― Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyoon and Korea Scout Association President Kang Tae-sun.
