South Korea decided yesterday to press on with hosting the World Scout Jamboree, despite warnings about the dangers posed by the extreme heat the country is enduring, and the US and British contingents pulling out a week early.
Tens of thousands of scouts, aged between 14-18 years, had flocked to Saemangeum, near the town of Buan on South Korea’s west coast, where temperatures have hit 33° Celsius (91.4° Fahrenheit).
South Korea this week issued its highest hot weather advisory for the first time in four years.
Hundreds of participants have already fallen ill due to the searing temperatures, prompting complaints from parents over the safety of their children.
The government promised more water trucks, air-conditioned spaces and medics in an attempt to save the event, which opened on August 1 and was set to run till August 12.
However, the organisers suffered a fresh blow yesterday when the US and Singapore decided to follow British scouts lead by moving elsewhere.
Belgian officials were looking for alternative accommodation, Yonhap news agency reported.
However, Swedish and German scout groups said they were staying, saying that conditions at the vast campsite were “moving in the right direction” after a “major resources boost” from the South Korean government.
“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 group said in a statement. “To stop participation is to deprive the young people of that chance.”
“We are seeing around the site some improvements,” Marina Rustan, president of Argentina Scout Association, told a press conference. “We had the word of the leadership of the government that things will be improved.”
As of yesterday, there had been 42,593 participants from over 150 countries camping at the site in Saemangeum.
South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a briefing that having consulted with other countries, his government had decided along with the Korea Scout Association that the jamboree should continue.
The government conducted spot inspections and found that conditions were no longer as dire as had been claimed, he added.
A day earlier, the World Organisation of the Scout Movement said they should consider “alternative options to end the event earlier than scheduled”, and support participants until they can return to their home countries.
Kristin Sayers from the US state of Virginia said her 17-year-old son Corey’s dream to take part in the jamboree, at a cost of $6,500, had turned into a “nightmare”.
“He’s very aware of how much money that is and the sacrifices we made as a family to send him,” she told Reuters by video link.
“We could’ve done so much with that money,” she added.
In an effort to calm the situation, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered officials to roll out tour programmes showcasing Korean culture and nature in Seoul and other cities, available for all scouts.
Thousands of tents stretched across the giant campsite, AFP reporters in Buan saw, as residents flocked to the area eager to help the scouts in the heat.
“The weather is too hot, so I came here with my kids to give out iced water,” business owner Han Tae-min told AFP from near the jamboree welcome centre, as he pressed cold water on passing scouts.
“I was also a scout when I was young,” the 33-year-old said, adding he was eager to help because “it is exceptionally hot this year, and the event is taking place in this extreme heat”.
Despite the government’s efforts, some parents continued to criticise organisers, with one Korean-American mother, whose 15-year-old daughter lost consciousness during the event, saying it took a “terrifying” 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
“How can South Korea allow children to be neglected like this?” she told South Korean broadcaster SBS.
The Jamboree’s official Instagram page was flooded with critical comments, with one set of parents saying the event had been “a horrible experience” for the scouts.
A British scout at the event posted footage from the site on a YouTube channel called “Jamboree Jamie”, sharing a video of what looked like mosquitoes flying constantly in rudimentary shower booths.
“It’s too hot, it’s too hot. Anyway, this is my third bottle of water,” he says in the video, adding he agreed, in part, that the event had been “poorly organised”.
The US contingent will move to US Army Garrison Humphreys near the jamboree site today, according to an e-mail sent to parents that cited the difficulties posed by the “ongoing extreme weather”.
Britain, the largest grouping at the jamboree, announced on Friday that they were moving to hotels in Seoul for the rest of their stay, to alleviate pressure on the site, and were seen leaving the campsite yesterday morning.