After hundreds of scouts at a big jamboree suffered heat-related illnesses, South Korea’s presidential office held an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday and ordered the deployment of air-conditioned buses and freezer trucks.
Scouts from the United Kingdom, supposedly the largest attendance group at over 4,000, even left the campsite early due to the situation.
The Korean peninsula is currently experiencing a heatwave, with average daily temperatures hovering around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and the government issuing its strongest heat warning as temperatures rise.
Around 43,000 people from all over the world are presently attending the World Scout Jamboree in Korea’s North Jeolla province, which is known as the world’s largest youth camp.
According to local officials and organizers, over 600 participants suffered heat-related diseases, forcing Seoul officials to authorize the deployment of military medics and nurses.
Given the time the country had to prepare for the event, local media sources have called the situation a “national disgrace.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered an infinite number of air-conditioned buses for scouts to use as temporary shelter, as well as refrigerator trucks to supply cool water, according to presidential spokesman Kim Eun-hye on Friday.
Yoon’s office added that the emergency meeting would make a decision “regarding the allocation of approximately 6 billion won ($4.59 million) in contingency funds”.
Later Friday, the World Organization of the Scout Movement said scouts from the UK are set to leave the site early and travel to the South Korean capital Seoul instead.
“We have been informed that the Contingent from the United Kingdom has decided to depart from the Jamboree campsite early, allowing Scouts to continue their Jamboree experience in Seoul until they are scheduled to travel home,” it said in a statement.
According to US Forces Korea, some 600 American jamboree participants have been offered the opportunity to stay in Camp Humphreys, a US army post in Pyeongtaek, to avoid the heat.
According to unnamed staff employees, several scouts were “stuck” in the distant campground despite the heat.
