25th World Scout Jamboree

The 25th World Scout Jamboree was held from 1–12 August 2023 at Saemangeum, North Jeolla, South Korea, hosted by Korea Scout Association with the theme, "Draw Your Dream".[1] About 43,000 participants from 158 countries attended.[2][3] The location, Saemangeum, is a reclaimed tidal flat on the coast of the Yellow Sea in South Korea. The campsite is flat, overlooks the sea on one side and features a view of the mountains. The site is about 8.8 square kilometres (3.4 sq mi), 6.2 km × 1.7 km (3.9 mi × 1.1 mi) (based on the longest points).[1]

25th World Scout Jamboree
Official logo for 25th World Scout Jamboree
ThemeDraw Your Dream
LocationSaemangeum, Buan-gun
CountrySouth Korea
Coordinates35°42′56″N 126°35′39″E
Date1-12 August 2023
Camp ChiefSimon Hang-bock Rhee
AffiliationWorld Organization of the Scout Movement
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24th World Scout Jamboree		 Next
26th World Scout Jamboree
Website
https://www.2023wsjkorea.org/

Planning and execution failures, in conjunction with recent flooding and a heat wave, led to health issues among attendees. The South Korean government, in cooperation with World Organization of the Scout Movement, decided to evacuate the attendees on 8 August due to Typhoon Khanun.[4] After the evacuation, a program of visits to cultural and historic sites and pop music concerts was improvised for the displaced participants in various regions of the country.[5] The closing ceremony was relocated to a football stadium in Seoul.

Bid process
See also: 26th World Scout Jamboree

Both the ZHP (Polish Scouting and Guiding Association) and Korea Scout Association (KSA) launched bids to host the 25th World Scout Jamboree.[6][7]

The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) was to have selected the host country in 2014 at the 40th World Scout Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, however this was postponed past the 23rd World Scout Jamboree, where both contingents still made bids.[8]

The ZHP's proposed theme, "Be the Spark",[9] received support from the city of Gdańsk to host the jamboree. Mayor Paweł Adamowicz wrote an article for the Huffington Post promoting Gdańsk as an ideal host city.[8][10]

Korea Scout Association's proposed theme, "Draw Your Dream"[11] and location at Saemangeum, were supported by the Jeollabuk-do Provincial Government and Korea Government's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The jamboree would also celebrate the Scouting centenary in Korea,[12] and the legacy of the 17th World Scout Jamboree, held in 1991, in Goseong, Gangwon-do with 19,093 participants from 135 countries under the theme of "Many Lands, One World".[13][14][15]

Korean President Moon Jae-in and former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon actively and publicly promoted KSA's candidacy.[16][17]

On 16 August 2017, during the 41st World Scout Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, WOSM announced that the 25th World Scout Jamboree would be held in South Korea.[18]

Programme

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held at Saemangeum on the evening of Wednesday 2 August. The main speaker was the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol with his first lady, Kim Keon-hee, who both wore Scout uniform. Also speaking was Bear Grylls, the Chief Ambassador of World Scouting.[19] The event included music and a drone light show.[20]

During the opening ceremony, 108 Scouts suffered from heat-related illnesses and exhaustion due to the extreme heatwave and were taken to the hospital. Some parents of the Scouts pointed out the poor management and lack of sufficient infrastructures against the heatwave.[21][22]

Organization of attendees

World Scout Jamborees are attended by Youth Participants (Scouts who are 14-17 years old at the time of the jamboree) and adult volunteers, serving in the capacity as Adult Leaders (AL), Contingent Management Team (CMT) members, and International Service Team (IST) members. The smallest units are patrols. One patrol consists of nine Youth Participants (YP) and one Adult Leader (AL). Four patrols, or 36 YPs and 4 ALs, make up a Unit.

Pillars of the jamboree program

The jamboree program is composed of five pillars: Scouting for Life, Smart & Scientific, Safe & Secure, Sustainability, and ACT (Adventure, Culture, and Tradition).

  1. Scouting for Life: Refers to activities enabling participants to develop leadership and life skills through Scouting activities, challenging their perception about global issues and encouraging them to become active citizens. It incorporates Scouting's values, methods, and current emphasis concerning global citizenship education and sustainable development education.
  2. Smart & Scientific: Refers to activities featuring the latest technology, from robotics to virtual reality, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs.
  3. Safe & Secure: Refers to activities educating and raising awareness to prevent and respond to communicable diseases, natural disasters, and other emergencies. It also showcased Korea Scout Association's diverse safety education programs. These are aimed at improving the ability of participants responding to danger and contributing as responders in emergencies.
  4. Sustainability: Refers to activities that educate and raise awareness about the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, and methods that allow participants to act as peace messengers. It also promotes sustainable development in the scouts' respective communities. The jamboree featured Better World Tent and Global Development Village, where participants learned about their role and connection with nature, procedures to create a culture of peace and dialogue, promote diversity and inclusion, and more.
  5. ACT (Adventure, Culture, Tradition): Refers to various adventurous activities featuring the environment and diverse terrain around Saemangeum, including the mountains and rivers, cross-cultural exchanges to experience the best of Korean culture and tradition from K-pop music to Bibimbap food to the Hangul alphabet and others.

Criticism and failures

Soon after Scouts began arriving it became evident that sanitation, transportation, infrastructure, and other basic needs of the visiting Scouts were not going to be met.[23] Poor planning and execution led to serious issues that were later heightened by the higher than anticipated temperature.[24] The site of the Jamboree was previously tideland and the increased rainfall immediately before the opening ceremony only worsened the issues with the site.[24][25]

According to SBS News, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which prepared for the festival, received an estimated budget of about ₩200 billion (about US$153 million), constructional costs included. There was no proper drainage facility on the event site, so the site experienced flooding before the opening ceremony.[23] The start of the Jamboree was delayed when unusually heavy rainfall resulted in flooding of part of the site, causing problems with water and power supplies.[26]

Food shortages and hygiene issues including insufficient food and unmanaged facilities were also raised.[27] Basic infrastructure, such as operational showering facilities, toilets, and trashcans, were not sufficiently provided by the organizers to sufficiently accommodate the 43,000 Scouts.[28]

The Jamboree was also significantly affected by a heat wave, with temperatures up to 35 °C (95 °F). On 4 August, 1,486 people visited the on-site hospital,[29] which secretary-general of the organizing committee Choi Chang-haeng attributed to high energy exertion during the opening ceremony's K-pop concert.[30]

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government to provide air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to protect participants suffering from the heat wave.[31]

Calls for government resignations continued into September, with North Jeolla Province council members asking for the Gender Equality and Family Minister, Kim Hyun-sook to step down.[32] The Minister was later replaced by Prime Minister Yoon with Kim Haeng.[33]

Contingent responses

On 4 August, UK Scouts (with 4,500 participants)[34] began removing all of their Scouts from the event over the next 2 days to stay in hotels in Seoul instead.[35] Matt Hyde, OBE chief executive of The UK Scout Association, stated that they did this out of concern for four reasons: sanitation issues, especially toilet cleanliness; the amount of food and ability to accommodate dietary restrictions; the heatwave and lack of substantial relief measures; and lack of adequate medical services.[36] He credited the British Embassy in Seoul as their biggest partner in planning new events.[36]

The Boy Scouts of America contingent (with 1,100 participants)[30] also decided to withdraw from the jamboree, and had their Scouts evacuated to Camp Humphreys, a US military base, on 6 August.[37]

On 7 August, the Scouts of China, which represents Taiwan (with 1,613 participants), withdrew its contingent from the event citing to the inhospitable environment and safety concerns.[38][39] The Scout Association of Hong Kong (460 participants),[40] Scouts Aotearoa of New Zealand[41] and the Singapore Scout Association contingents also withdrew on 7 August.[34]

With Typhoon Khanun being forecast to affect the site, on 7 August the World Organization of the Scout Movement requested that the South Korean government end the Jamboree early and have all participants leave the site.[42] All attendees were relocated to hotels and accommodation in Seoul or whatever the contingent had decided on.[34] President Yoon asked local governments across the country to devise tourist programs for the displaced Jamboree participants. The city of Busan found accommodation for 10,000 Scouts and arranged visits to Haeundae Beach and Taejongdae nature park. In North Chungcheong Province, accommodation was found in universities, training centers and hotels. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism made facilities available at 170 of their temples.[43] The Ministry of Interior and Safety said it would later settle the local governments’ food and accommodations expenditures, which amounted nearly to ₩15 billion (about US$11 million).[44]

Closing ceremony

The 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree K-pop Super Live was a concert that also served as the closing ceremony of the 25th World Scout Jamboree held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on 11 August 2023.[45] The concert was originally planned to be held on 6 August at an outdoor stadium in Saemangeum, before being rescheduled to 11 August at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium,[46][47] and then moved to the latter venue.[48] A Korean FA Cup game and an episode of KBS2's Music Bank was cancelled to facilitate the staging of the event.[49][50]

Setlist

References
  1. "2023 SaeManGeum 25th World Scout Jamboree Official Site". 2023 SaeManGeum 25th WorldScout Jamboree Official Site. Korea Scout Association. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  2. Ji-hye, Jun (1 August 2023). "43,000 young Scouts gather at Saemangeum for World Jamboree". The Korea Times.
  3. Ji-hye, Jun (3 August 2023). "World Scout Jamboree in Korea becomes nightmare due to mounting heat illnesses, hygiene issues". The Korea Times.
  4. "WOSM Statements from the 25th World Scout Jamboree". scout.org. 7 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  5. "Wrecked World Scout Jamboree turns into tours, festivities". Korea JoongAng Daily. 10 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  6. "Polska 2023: Be the spark! | 25th World Scout Jamboree Candidate". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  7. "Official Declaration of 2023 / 25th World Scout Jamboree bidding of KSA". Korea Scout Association. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  8. Adamowicz, Paweł (6 December 2017). "The City of Gdansk is World Scout Jamboree candidate for 2023". HuffPost. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  9. "POLSKA 2023 World Scout Jamboree Bid | Be the spark!". polska2023.pl. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  10. Adamowicz, Paweł (9 November 2016). "Gdansk ready to host World Scout Jamboree 2023". HuffPost. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  11. "25th World Scout Jamboree SaeManGeum, Korea 2023". 2023wsjkorea.org. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  12. "Korea Scout Association". english.scout.or.kr. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  13. "2023 새만금 제25회 세계스카우트잼버리". 2023wsjkorea.org.
  14. Love, Ben H. "Many lands, one world". Boys' Life. Vol. 81, no. 12.
  15. Soo-sun, You (17 August 2017). "Korea to host 2023 World Scout Jamboree". The Korea Times.
  16. Jung, Min-kyung (17 August 2017). "S. Korea to host 2023 World Scout Jamboree". The Korea Herald. Herald Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
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  25. Byrne, Pádraig (9 August 2023). "Wexford scout reflects on chaos of evacuation in South Korea – 'No amount of training could have prepared us for this'". Wexford People. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023.
  26. Hall, Lauren (2 August 2023). "Floods cause delays at World Scout Jamboree". itv.com. ITV plc. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
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  31. Choi, Si-young (4 August 2023). "Yoon orders unlimited air-conditioned buses for Jamboree participants". The Korea Herald.
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  33. "Yoon replaces defense, culture, gender equality ministers". The Korea Times. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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  36. Scouts UK Chief Exec, Matt Hyde, with an update from the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Korea, retrieved 21 August 2023 – via YouTube
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  38. 瑞杰, 邱; 政忠, 林; 德正, 葉. 南韓世界童軍大露營爆爭議 家長炸鍋 我童軍團將撤離 [South Korean World Scout Jamboree Controversy Parents Fury My Scout Group Will Leave]. Udn.com (in Chinese (Taiwan)). United Daily News. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
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  40. Cheung, Winona (7 August 2023). "Evacuation ordered for more than 460 Hong Kong scout delegates to world jamboree in South Korea as Typhoon Khanun nears". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
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  44. "Local gov'ts burdened by labor costs due to Jamboree fiasco". The Korea Times. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  45. Jeong, Hee-yeon (9 August 2023). 뉴진스·NCT 드림→몬스타엑스 셔누X형원 잼버리 콘서트 확정 [공식] [New Jeans · NCT Dream→Monsta X Shownu X Hyungwon Jamboree Concert Confirmed [Official]]. Sports Dong-A (in Korean). Retrieved 9 August 2023 – via Naver.
  46. "World Scout Jamboree 'K-Pop Super Live' Concert Postponed + Announces New Venue". Soompi. 6 August 2023.
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  49. "K-Pop Saved The World Scout Jamboree, But Soccer Fans Are Furious". Koreaboo. 12 August 2023.
  50. "잼버리가 드러낸 한국식 행정 시스템의 무능" [The Incompetence of the Korean-style Administrative System Revealed by the Jamboree]. 시사IN, 시사인 Sisa in. 21 August 2023.
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