Organisers of the World Scout Jamboree asked host South Korea Monday to “urgently” evacuate tens of thousands of children from their campsite ahead of a typhoon, just days after a heatwave caused mass scout illnesses.
Typhoon Khanun, which killed at least two people in Japan, is due to make landfall in South Korea on Thursday, near where some 43,000 scouts have been camping in North Jeolla province for their problem-plagued jamboree.
Korean media have called the jamboree “a national disgrace” after an extreme heatwave caused hundreds of scouts to fall ill and prompted American and British scout groups to withdraw as criticism grew over conditions at the campsite.
Organisers had insisted the event would continue but on Monday the World Organization of the Scout Movement said Seoul had told them that “due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun, an early departure will be planned for all participants”.
“We urgently call on the Government to expedite the plan for departure and provide all necessary resources and support for participants during their stay and until they return to their home countries,” it said in a statement.
Seoul made the decision to evacuate and close the campsite taking into account the approaching typhoon as well as “concerns and requests” from the world scout body and participating countries, gender minister Kim Hyun-sook told reporters.
The early departure from the campground did not mean the end of the event, she said, adding that the jamboree was “merely relocating due to a natural disaster but will continue”.
The government has promised a schedule of cultural tours, while a K-Pop concert is scheduled for Friday before the event officially closes on August 12.
Some 36,000 participants from 156 countries will begin evacuating from the campsite at 10 am (0100 GMT) Tuesday, vice minister for disaster and safety management Kim Sung-ho said.
The government will deploy some 1,000 buses to relocate the scouts, and the campsite will shut down once all the participants are evacuated, he said.
South Korea’s weather agency said Typhoon Khanun is forecast to bring heavy rain and strong winds across the Korean peninsula, including winds with a maximum speed of up to 44 metres (144 feet) per second — powerful enough to derail a moving train.
The presidential office in Seoul has suggested that its contingency plan is for the tens of thousands of young people to be relocated to Seoul for the rest of their stay.
“We will do our best to secure the participants’ accommodation and to ensure that the programme continues for the remaining five days,” Kim Sung-ho said.
– ‘No scout expertise’ –
Organisers have been strongly criticised by Korean media and parents of the scouts for a lack of planning for the extreme heat, even though South Korea had six years to prepare.
Media also reported on poor drainage at the site, rudimentary showers and toilets, and gruesome bug bites affecting the mostly teenage participants of the event.
One of the biggest factors in the string of problems afflicting the jamboree was that the event was organised by government officials and not scout experts, said Lee Hoon, a professor of tourism at Hanyang University in Seoul.
“Scout events must be overseen by someone with expertise, someone who really understands the programmes, because they are different from other events, while the government provides administrative, legal and financial support,” Lee told AFP.
“I think that kind of system wasn’t established this time,” he said. “This will definitely hurt South Korea’s reputation abroad.”
The problems have been a significant public relations setback for the South Korean government, which has called top-level meetings and thrown millions of dollars of emergency funding into salvaging the event.
Local officials have apologised for the jamboree’s problems.
“As the chairman of the executive committee, I am very sorry for causing so much concern,” said North Jeolla governor Kim Kwan-young.