A report has emerged indicating that the handling of the '2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree,' which received evaluations as the worst jamboree ever, was fundamentally poor. The Board of Audit and Inspection specifically pointed to the false reports from the organizing committee and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as the reasons for the jamboree's chaotic conclusion.
The audit report also included that when Han Duck-soo, the Prime Minister, pointed out that the restrooms were 'not cleaned', the Secretary General of the jamboree organizing committee responded, 'What is the big deal if the restrooms are not cleaned properly?'
On the 10th, the Board of Audit and Inspection released a report on the implementation of the Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree, stating as such. This report was made public after 1 year and 6 months since the audit commenced.
Through the report, the Board demanded caution from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and North Jeolla Province for their poor execution of duties, and stated that severe measures, such as disciplinary actions and notifications for personnel data, requests for investigation, and sending investigation reference materials, were taken against 18 individuals involved in illegal or inappropriate actions.
The jamboree, held in August 2023, caused significant inconvenience to participants due to a lack of supplies and facilities to cope with heat waves, poor restroom hygiene, and flooding of the site. Consequently, some national participants withdrew early, exposing overall operational issues.
The report published that day also contained a conversation Prime Minister Han had about the restrooms. On the third day of the event, August 4, 2023, Prime Minister Han visited the jamboree site and personally scrubbed the restroom toilet.
The following day, during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han, when he pointed out that 'there are places where the restrooms are not cleaned,' the secretary general of the organizing committee replied, 'What is the big deal if the restrooms are not cleaned properly?' This is based on the statement made by Minister Kim Hyun-sook of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family at the time.
The Board pointed out that a retiree from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, who lacked expertise, was appointed as the secretary general of the organizing committee responsible for overall event preparation and operations, and that only 6.3% (10 out of 159 individuals) had experience with international events.
The organizing committee also falsely reported to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family a faster schedule for facility installation than reality, or that the installation was completed. This was found to have caused the government to be unable to prepare follow-up measures.
It was pointed out that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family also exacerbated the situation by falsely reporting at the State Council meeting that preparations had been completed. Although the Ministry was responsible for inspecting, guiding, and supervising the organizing committee's preparations and reporting the status to the State Council, Minister Kim Hyun-sook was reported to have been informed of the lack of restrooms and shower facilities by the organizing committee, and upon inspecting the site, confirmed that medical and office equipment facilities had not been installed, yet reported falsely that 'facilities had been completed.'
The Board explained that, as a result, the government lost what was effectively the last opportunity to prepare follow-up measures.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family did not assign any of its own employees to the key positions of four deputy directors in the support group for the jamboree and instead filled them with dispatched personnel from local governments. The Board noted that appointing an employee involved in an ongoing grievance process over abuse of power as team leader indicated a lack of awareness of the importance of jamboree preparations.
During six site inspections, it was revealed that two were conducted without a separate plan. There were also instances where the internal campgrounds were not visited or inspection reports were not created, occurring three and four times, respectively.
Additionally, North Jeolla Province neglected tasks such as writing the event planning document during the candidate site review stage, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs was found to have misused the Farmland Management Fund allocated for land reclamation for purposes outside of its original intent.