The 25th World Scout Jamboree got off to a disappointing start due to poor preparations and facilities management amid a heat wave that sparked outcries from participants and parents. The global youth event is likely to be the source of more embarrassment as the government is not fully ready for a flag handover ceremony to the next host country.
Although the Korean government took control of the remainder of the quadrennial event, whose participants exited the campsite due to the rapidly-approaching Typhoon Khanun, government ministries and organizers are still undecided on how to deliver the Jamboree flag to the event’s next host, Poland, at the closing ceremony on Friday.
The Korean government created a team led by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to handle the rest of the Jamboree event to ensure that the Scouts can enjoy Korean culture during the remaining period of the event. However, government ministries and organizers are passing on the responsibility to other agencies, especially involving matters related to the flag handover ceremony.
When The Korea Times inquired about the flag handover event, an official at the prime minister’s office in charge of the Jamboree said the matter should be referred to the organizing committee.
The secretary general of the Jamboree organizing committee, Choi Chang-haeng, refused to comment on the issue, and other senior officials of the committee said they do not have knowledge of the ceremony, and added that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should be contacted instead.
A spokesperson for the culture ministry said the flag ceremony is not its responsibility and pointed to the organizing committee as the source to contact.
The Ministry of Gender Equality, which was initially in charge of the event, also did not respond to The Korea Times’ questions about the flag ceremony.
Regarding the same inquiry, the World Organization of the Scout Movement said, “We’re unable to comment on any details regarding the closing ceremony for the moment.”
Initially, Polish President Andrzej Duda was scheduled to visit Korea on Wednesday to attend the closing ceremony and receive the Jamboree flag as the leader of the next host nation. The next Jamboree will take place in Gdansk in 2027.
During his stay in Korea, Duda planned to meet Korean business leaders and visit weapons manufacturers, which are supplying tanks, self-propelled howitzers and fighter jets to Poland. Also, he was anticipated to have a meeting with the Korean president in Seoul, though it may not be an official summit.
However, Duda canceled his visit, due largely to Typhoon Khanun which was approaching the Korean Peninsula, Wednesday, and the Jamboree closing ceremony is not likely to be held as planned, according to Seoul’s presidential office.
And it remains unclear whether a Polish government official will attend the closing ceremony and receive the Jamboree flag.
According to the Polish embassy in Seoul, the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association is taking care of matters related to the Jamboree, while the Polish embassy in Korea is not involved in the closing ceremony, meaning it does not have information on the matter.
The Jamboree, which kicked off on Aug. 1, became the target of criticism, due to poor preparation by the event organizers and faulty facilities management, which triggered international concerns over the safety of participating Scouts under the extreme heatwave that affected the original campsite of Saemangeum, a vast reclaimed tidal flat in North Jeolla Province.
As setbacks continued at the campsite, the government took control of the event from its organizers, and nearly 40,000 participants made an early exit from the campsite, Monday, due to risks posed by the heat wave and the typhoon. The Scouts were relocated to Seoul and seven other locations and will spend the rest of their stay there until the closing ceremony.
Italian Scouts who participated in the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, embark on a tour bus in Jung District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
While it became uncertain whether the flag can be delivered to the next host at the ceremony, government staffers are also crying foul over the government’s unorganized control of the event.
According to the State Public Officials’ Labor Union, a union of government officials, the interior and safety ministry asked each ministry on Monday to send at least 10 staffers to gather at the Government Complex in Sejong at 6:30 a.m., Tuesday, to support the Scout members travelling across the country.
However, just hours before that gathering time, the safety ministry said not all of them are required to be there and ordered some of them to go back to their office as usual, despite some officials have to go back to their office in Seoul, which takes approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes by car.
“The government is making orders through text messages and emails, without telling how long it will take and what work we should do while reiterating the situation is flexible,” the union said in a statement.
“Though it is public officials’ duty to serve for the country, but we are not a subject whose fundamental human dignity is disregarded, being mobilized without any agreement, direction, or knowledge of where to go and how long it will take.”
