South Korea evacuates scouts from world jamboree site as typhoon nears

SEOUL – South Korea on Tuesday started evacuating thousands of teenage participants at the World Scout Jamboree from a campsite in the south-west of the country to safer areas mainly around the capital, ahead of an approaching typhoon. 

The storm, on top of the country’s worst heatwave in years,

is the latest blow to the 10-day event, after hundreds fell ill due to high temperatures and complaints from parents mounted over its organisation, prompting the earlier withdrawal of the United States and British scout contingents.

“This is the first time in more than 100 years of World Scout Jamborees that we have had to face such compounded challenges,” Mr Ahmad Alhendawi, secretary-general of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, said in a statement.

The scout body said it was the first time a campsite had been evacuated due to inclement weather since 1971, when a typhoon struck during a World Scout Jamboree in Japan.

More than 1,000 buses are being deployed to move the 36,000 scouts remaining at the campsite from more than 150 countries, according to officials.

South Korean special forces were on hand to help with the evacuation, AFP reporters at the site saw.

Scouts at the campsite in Saemangeum told the news agency they were sad to leave.

“It’s really hard but we had a great time. It took some while to get used to the circumstances but the youth, they had a really great time,” said Ms Nicola Raunig, 27, an Austrian scout unit leader.

“I’m sad it will end now,” she said, adding that she had hoped participants could have enjoyed “the whole experience”.

“But we will make the best out of it,” Ms Raunig added.

Typhoon Khanun, which has already wreaked havoc in southern Japan, is expected to hit southern areas of South Korea on Thursday before tracking up the peninsula, according to weather forecasters.

Eight cities and provinces including Seoul and Gyeonggi province will host the scouts for the rest of their stay in South Korea, with 4,000 participants due to remain in North Jeolla province, where the campsite is located, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The organisers said most participants will have their own room or share with one other person.

The head of UK Scouts told Reuters on Monday that

concerns about cleanliness and food,

not just the heat, had prompted their decision to leave the first global gathering of scouts since the pandemic.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday ordered an emergency response team to implement plans for alternate venues and accommodation without a glitch, his office said.

The jamboree, which is scheduled to run until Saturday, will continue, said Gender Equality Minister Kim Hyun-sook, whose department is running the event.

“I can say that it is only the location that is changing because of the natural disaster, but it is still continuing,” she told reporters.

The governor of North Jeolla province, which is hosting the event, has apologised to the public for causing concern, and said sanitary conditions including toilets have been improving.

Officials have sent in scores of water lorries and air-conditioners to keep participants cool, he added.

Korean media has called the jamboree “a national disgrace” and the head of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, Mr Kim Gi-hyeon, made a public apology on Monday, acknowledging that the event had not gone smoothly, and proposing an investigation into whether taxpayers’ money had been well spent on preparations for the jamboree.

More than 40,000 people, including scouts from Singapore, attended the event.

A K-pop concert due to be held at the campsite

on Sunday was postponed to Friday, but the venue has yet to be decided because of the typhoon, Ms Kim said. REUTERS, AFP