Tens of thousands of scouts danced, sang and waved glow sticks at a K-pop festival Friday in Seoul, South Korea’s latest bid to save the global scouting gathering marred by cascading troubles and a disastrous organization. The last edition of the world jamboree brought together 43,000 scouts in Saemangeum, on the west coast of South Korea. The festival, held every four years, was to last from August 1 to 12.
It was without counting on an unprecedented heat wave which made 600 participants sick, according to local authorities. The 4,000 Britons and 1,500 Americans also had to leave the gathering early last weekend before a total evacuation due to a tropical storm this week. Other participants were bitten by insects, and around 70 contracted Covid-19. Finally, local media reported poor drainage from rudimentary showers and toilets.
The scouts were scattered across the country and sent on government-sponsored cultural tours, before all reuniting for one last time on Friday for a K-pop Superlive concert – headlined by the NewJeans and The Boyz – . “The last few days have not been easy,” acknowledged Ahmad Alhendawi, Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, during the official closing ceremony of the event. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told the scouts that he hopes “the cultural experiences you have had through different parts of Korea…will remain beautiful memories etched in your mind.”
K-pop groups including HolyBang, The Boyz, ATBO and The New Six then performed on stage before an enthusiastic audience of mostly teenage Boy Scouts. Although the government has spent millions of dollars to save an event, described as a “national disgrace” by the Korean media, criticism is increasing in the country.
A deputy, Sung Il-jong, had earlier in the week appealed for help to the legendary K-pop boy band BTS, currently on hiatus due to the call to the flag of several of its members, in asking them to participate in the concert on Friday in Seoul. A suggestion that betrays “a terrible totalitarian idea that the state owns K-pop,” columnist Isak Choi quipped on X (formerly Twitter).
According to the Yonhap news agency, some 1,000 officials – such as those from the Korean Development Bank, or the Korean Electric Power Company – have been “mobilized” to help hold the concert.
The next World Scout Gathering is to be held in Poland in 2027.
