By Park Hye Ri

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on Aug. 6 said on the 25th World Scout Jamboree, "The site of the World Scout Jamboree is gradually recovering stability since we decided to fully support the event at the central government level."

Speaking at a briefing held at the event's media center in Saemangeum, an estuarine tidal flat serving as the festival's venue in Buan-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province, he said, "The central and local governments, military and private sector are acting in unison at the World Scout Jamboree site to solve each difficulty that participants face."

"We added 132 air-conditioned buses to drastically raise their number to 262 so that participants can cool off from the heat," he said on measures to minimize harm caused by the scorching heat. "We doubled the number of shuttle buses within the compound, so a combined 24 buses stop once every 10 minutes instead of the previous half hour."

Minister Lee said 69 shades and eight water facilities were installed throughout the site to offer scouts relief from the heat.

"We dispatched an additional 930 personnel to clean bathrooms and shower facilities, raising their number to about 1,400 to manage cleanliness and sanitation," he said. "We're also supplying five or more bottles of cold water to each person daily."

"We're improving the quantity and quality of meals and providing additional snacks," he added. "We've also installed 330 more lights to illuminate the streets to make it safer for people to move around at night."

The rescheduling of a K-pop concert originally slated for Aug. 6 as part of the Jamboree was also announced.

In an afternoon briefing, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo Gyoon said, "The new date is the evening of Aug. 11, the day of the closing ceremony, and the venue is Jeonju World Cup Stadium (in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province)."

He said the postponement was "the comprehensive result of issues with accommodation staff, safety management, artist appearances, supplementary program adjustment, movement conditions in Saemangeum and the Jamboree's closing ceremony."

"Jeonju World Cup Stadium can accommodate about 42,000 spectators, with 88% of the seats under a roof," Minister Park said on the selection of the concert's venue. "It takes about 50 minutes to get from Saemangeum to the stadium, whose staff have cumulative experience and know-how in safety management."

Solutions were also suggested for scaling down activities at the compound's site due to the high temperature. 

"We will cooperate with the culture and safety ministries to find and support additional cultural interactive programs outside of the compound to allow scouts to get diverse experiences in Korean nature and culture," Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyunsook said. "We will actively support member participation in the programs they want such as visits to forests, (Buddhist) temple stay, historical experiences and regionally specialized programs."

hrhr@korea.kr