The 2023 World Scout Jamboree in South Korea is finally over after the event was plagued with heatwave, sickness, and a typhoon.
The scouting event ended with a bang as scouts from all over the world gathered for a closing ceremony at Seoul's World Cup Stadium Friday (August 11), a day after typhoon Khanun ravaged the Korean Peninsula, affecting both sides of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
This included both the US and UK delegations after they pulled out of the original campsite early due to the heat wave and poor sanitation and food.
Organizers originally planned the finale to be held at the designated campsite in Saemangeum until meteorologists predicted Khanun to pummel both Koreas Thursday (August 10). This forced authorities to billet participants in hotels, university dormitories, and large halls within the South Korean capital and surrounding areas.
A Disastrous Jamboree
Because of the fiasco that plagued the event, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo expressed his apologies to the participants during the closing ceremony, the Associated Press reported.
"We are sorry about the difficulties Scouts experienced in the face of an unprecedented heat wave and typhoon triggered by climate change," he said.
However, the participants, most of them teenagers, were not attentive to the chief government official as they roared in excitement and made waves rising in sequence around the stadium as Han read out his statement.
With the storm now over, government officials said most commercial flights and train services had resumed and power was mostly restored to some 46,000 households that got cut off due to the storm.
While Seoul was spared from storm damage, other cities experienced light to moderate damage due to flooding. A 67-year-old man was also found dead near a bloated stream in the southern inland city of Daegu. Emergency crews are still searching for another person who was swept into a stream while using a wheelchair.
According to the South Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety, nearly 16,000 people, mostly in the southernmost provinces, had been forced to evacuate due to the storm, but over 11,000 have already returned to their homes as of Friday.
With the event now over, South Korean lawmakers are now starting to criticize the government for what went wrong.
The Korea Times quoted People Power Party MP Yun Jae-ok saying they would examine what exactly went wrong and who was to blame for the logistical nightmare.
"We will examine the lack of preparations and other problems raised during the event as soon as possible, as many people have been concerned about the topic," he said.
K-Pop Magic Saves Scouting Meet
While this year's world scouting event was disastrous overall, the best was saved for last for scouts who had to endure heat exhaustion and the summer rain.
During the closing ceremony, the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) announced that Poland would become the next host of the World Scout Jamboree in 2027.
After the ceremonies, scouts were treated to a K-pop concert that featured several big acts, including Itzy, NewJeans, Ive, Mamamoo, and NCT Dream.
While not in the lineup of performers due to some of its members rendering military service, the male supergroup BTS was represented by the photocards inside goodie bags distributed to scouts. Other items included in the giveaways were light sticks and character merchandise, according to The Guardian.
