hankyoreh

Participants in the World Scout Jamboree being held in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, take part in an activity at the campsite on Aug. 4. (Yonhap)

While the UK, the US, and Singaporean organizations made the decision to pull their participants out of the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in Korea, citing inadequate measures to deal with extreme heat and other factors, most of the other participating countries have decided to stay on, including Germany, Sweden, and Spain.

Many of the countries have praised the efforts of volunteers for the event, which lasts from Aug. 1 to Aug. 12, and suggested that they don’t wish to cut short a once-in-a-lifetime experience for their participating scouts.

At the same time, many of the attendees have expressed disappointment with South Korea’s lack of preparations, which appears likely to come under fire going forward.

The UK flag flies at the campsite for the country’s contingent at the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree on Aug. 5, the same day that the UK, US, and Singapore contingents decided to withdraw from the gathering. (AFP/Yonhap)

The German contingent, which included some 2,200 participants, published a statement Saturday on the World Scout Jamboree website.

“As the German contingent we can confirm that the first days at this Jamboree did not go as we expected,” it read.

“The UK contingent decided yesterday to leave the World Scout Jamboree. As the German contingent, we are not considering this course of action at this time,” it continued.

The German contingent went on to explain that “existing deficits in the areas of health protection, sanitation and food distribution are regularly addressed by the German contingent management to the World Scout Organisation and many responsible persons and helpers are currently working on solutions.”

“Although there are isolated cases of heat exhaustion, which we are dealing with thoroughly, the German contingent has so far been spared any serious problems,” it added.

In a press conference Sunday afternoon at the Saemangeum event site in Buan, North Jeolla Province, representatives from the scouting federations in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina also announced their intent to remain. Sweden, Spain, Belgium and France said they would be staying on as well.

“For the 1,500 Swedish young people we have here, the Jamboree is a unique experience. You only have one chance in your life to join a Jamboree as a participant," the Swedish scout delegation said in a statement. "To stop participation is to deprive the young people of that chance.”

Earlier, the UK Scouts, which had the largest delegation with 4,500 participants, became the first team to withdraw from the jamboree site on Friday, relocating their members to various hotels in Seoul on Friday. The US team, which numbers roughly 1,100, will also be moving their scouts to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.

Participants in the jamboree being held in southwestern Korea fill up jugs of water on Aug. 5. (AFP/Yonhap)

The World Scout Jamboree is a gathering that was created on the basis of the Scout Movement, which attempts to develop the faculties of young people through activities such as camping, held every four years. Attended by 43,000 youths from 155 countries around the world, this year’s gathering was the first jamboree since the COVID-19 pandemic, so anticipation was especially high among the participants.

But when, early in the jamboree, over 700 participants complained of heat-related symptoms due to the heat wave, which saw temperatures as high as 35 degrees Celsius, requiring medical attention, the story became front-page news at many foreign outlets. The UK, the country where the Scout Movement began which has the largest team in attendance, was especially flooded with media reports.

“The scout motto is ‘Be prepared,’ but the South Korean government wasn’t,” commented a parent in the UK who sent her 16-year-old to the jamboree to the Guardian on Saturday. “I know the heat is not the government’s fault, but perhaps there could have been some planning for the heat.”

The additional support the South Korean government promised, as well as the efforts of volunteers, seem to have contributed greatly to other participating countries’ decision to stay. The AFP reported, “Thousands of pink, yellow and green tents stretched across the giant campsite [. . .] as residents flocked to the area eager to help the scouts in the heat.”

Others pointed out that some of the participating countries may not have the capacity to execute an early withdrawal even if they wanted. The BBC observed, “The UK and the US teams have the money and the resources to relocate thousands of people at short notice, but there are plenty of countries at the event which do not.”

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]