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Few people could be seen walking around the delta area of the World Scout Jamboree being held in Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province on Aug. 6, the day that the UK, US, and Singapore delegations withdrew from the event. (Kim Yong-hee/The Hankyoreh)

With the US and the UK delegations withdrawing from the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, organizers are rushing to get the event back on track by adding more facilities to escape the scorching temperatures and preparing cultural excursions.

On Saturday, President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min to urgently add cultural programs for the scouts.

“We are preparing cultural excursions to various parts of the country so that [participants] can have various experiences and make memories,” Lee said at a briefing at the jamboree’s press center in Buan, North Jeolla Province, on Sunday. A total of 90 programs have been prepared with the cooperation of 17 cities and provinces, according to Lee.

The additional programs include the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Chungcheong Province, tours of Chungnam National University in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, temple stays at traditional Korean temples, cultural and historical experiences at Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Confucian academies of Sosuseowon in Yeongju and Dosanseowon in Andong, and visits to companies and industrial sites.

Signs at the entrance to the delta area of the World Scout Jamboree being held in Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province inform readers on Aug. 6 that access is being restricted. (Kim Yong-hee/The Hankyoreh)

The jamboree organizers began accepting applications for the program on Monday. Participants will take part in programs during the day and return to the base camp in the evening. The organizers plan to use buses to transport participants to the excursion sites.

Local governments have also come up with their own programs for jamboree participants.

“We will support scouts’ participation in summer festivals currently underway in various parts of Seoul,” the capital’s metropolitan government said in a press release.

Originally slated to end on Aug. 12, the “2023 Seoul Summer Beach” festival held at Gwanghwamun Square will run through Aug. 15. An additional water playground will be installed for scouts visiting Seoul after the jamboree.

Some argue that changing the original program to cultural excursions fails to live up to the spirit of challenge embodied by the Scout Movement.

“Increasing the number of external programs may undermine the spirit of scouting,” commented an official from the organizing committee, “but facing international embarrassment, we have to provide opportunities for these young people to build memories for the rest of the duration so that we can end the event on a happy note.”

Major events have also been rescheduled due to safety concerns.

The “K-Pop Super Live” concert, which was scheduled to take place at 8 pm on Sunday, the Jamboree’s “cultural exchange day,” has been pushed back to Friday.

“We changed the venue of the event to Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Aug. 11, the second-to-last day of the jamboree,” said Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon, who co-chairs the jamboree’s organizing committee. Park noted that the stadium hosts 42,000 people, and 88 percent of the seats are covered.

With the drive from the campsite to the stadium taking around 50 minutes, the event’s organizers are looking into buses and other methods of transportation.

Young participants in the World Scout Jamboree being held in Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province crowd the world food tents on Aug. 6. (Kim Yong-hee/The Hankyoreh)

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, which was scheduled to play a home game that day, will play at a different venue.

Unsanitary conditions and a lack of shelters from excessive heat at the base camp have also prompted controversy.

In response, the organizers added 132 air-conditioned buses, bringing the total to 262, and erected 69 additional shade structures. They also doubled the number of shuttle buses to 24, operating every 10 minutes, and installed eight water playgrounds. An additional 930 cleanup workers have been hired, bringing the total to more than 1,400.

Currently on summer vacation, South Korea’s president received a report from the prime minister and interior and safety minister on the situation at the jamboree and asked them to “pull out all the stops to manage the hygiene of the facilities during the heat wave.”

On his third day of visiting the jamboree, the prime minister inspected facilities outside the grounds that participants had complained about. Han instructed Kim Hyun-sook, minister of gender equality and family, and officials from North Jeolla Province to “leave their desks and go out into the field and take action and report back.”

By Kim Yong-hee, Gwangju correspondent; Park Im-keun, North Jeolla correspondent; Park Da-hae, staff reporter; Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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