Overwhelming jamboree funds used for organizing committee operation instead of on-site infrastructure: budget data

▲ British staff members disassemble their national booth as the country's contingent prepares to depart from the World Scout Jamboree in the Saemangeum reclamation area, located in Buan, North Jeolla Province, on South Korea's west coast, on Aug. 5, 2023. (Yonhap)

▲ Attendees of the 25th World Scout Jamboree beat the heat under a cooling tunnel at a campsite in the Saemangeum reclamation area in Buan, North Jeolla Province, on South Korea's west coast, on Aug. 3, 2023. (Yonhap)

▲ This file photo, taken July 24, 2023, shows a site for the 25th World Scout Jamboree, set to take place at Saemangeum, a reclaimed area in Buan, about 204 kilometers south of Seoul, from Aug. 1-12. The Buan county office provided this photo. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

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Overwhelming jamboree funds used for organizing committee operation instead of on-site infrastructure: budget data

SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- An overwhelming amount of public funds in South Korea spent for the 2023 World Scout Jamboree was used for operational and personnel expenses instead of for the setting up of infrastructure, such as shower and bathroom stalls, at the camp site, according to data provided by organizers Monday.

It has raised scrutiny on whether both central and local authorities involved in the jamboree management throughout the years adequately used public funds -- especially in light of revelations of over some 90 reported cases of lavish overseas business trips taken by civil servants in the name of research.

According to data provided by the central government, the North Jeolla provincial government and the jamboree organizing committee on Monday, the accumulated budget used to run the event and related expenditure had amounted to 117.1 billion won (US$89.5 million).

Of the total, 74 percent, or 87 billion won, had been used to cover personnel expenses for the organizing committee and operational costs, such as those related to travel and food for the Scouts, and the K-pop concert for the jamboree.

Spending for campsite infrastructure, including water and sewage facilities, parking lots and water-spraying cooling tunnels, stood at 20.5 billion won.

Expenses for toilets, showers and drinking water fountains at the campsite amounted to 13 billion won, or 11 percent of the total spending, data showed.

Data also showed that officials, such as those from the gender equality and family ministry, and the North Jeolla provincial government, went on dozens of lavish overseas trips throughout eight years under the guise of research for the jamboree.

In May 2018, five officials from the province went on an eight-day trip to Switzerland and Italy under the pretext of investigating successful jamboree hosting cases.

The trip included visits to tourist attractions, such as Interlaken, Lucerne, Milan and Venice. Switzerland and Italy, however, had no experience hosting jamborees.

In December of that year, another group of officials at the provincial government visited Australia, and in 2019, officials from the gender equality ministry and the provincial government traveled to the United States to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree held in West Virginia.

Several of the trips included cruise ship programs totally unrelated to the World Scout Jamboree.

An official at the North Jeolla provincial government who was involved in one of the trips said they conducted research to "develop the Saemangeum tourism and leisure industry, in addition to ways to better prepare for the jamboree."

Lawmakers have called for the government to audit related offices and agencies to verify whether public funds were properly used to carry out the global event, which has faced criticism after numerous accounts of a hospital bed shortage, waterlogged conditions due to previous heavy rains and swarms of mosquitoes, as the country has been gripped with record-high temperatures.

Rep. Shin Won-sik of the ruling People Power Party wrote on social media that he hopes for authorities to thoroughly verify what preparations were made during the five years of the past Moon Jae-in administration and how the budget exceeding 100 billion won was used.

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