Lessons from the Jamboree debacle

We must learn from the successes of the past whether it is ours or others’, and build on today’s failures for a better future.

Chung Un-chan

The author, a former prime minister and former president of Seoul National University, is the chairman of the Korea Institute for Shared Growth.

Korea’s hosting of the World Scout Jamboree in the vast tidal flat of Saemangeum left much to be desired. The world’s largest youth camp was barely salvaged from the brink of international disgrace after the central government stepped in. But nobody tells the truth or apologizes as they are too busy blaming others. It is truly a pitiful sight.

Korea had hosted the Summer and Winter Olympics, the football World Cup and a number of other global competitions and events without any hiccups, all thanks to concerted efforts from the government, companies and the public.

The Jamboree event at Saemangeum was different. Back in 2017, Korea won the bid to host the Jamboree. The former Moon Jae-in administration was neglectful in the five-year presidential term. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration had one year to prepare for the event, but it hardly did its best for a successful staging. The campsite sitting on a wetland was muddy, and participants complained of disgusting and insufficient toilets, shower booths and water supplies despite the intolerable heat wave.

The disaster owed much to a critical lack of command. According to the special law on staging the event, which was enacted five years ago, the prime minister chairs as the figurehead of the government support committee while the actual responsibility falls on the organizing and execution committees. Until last year, the organizing committee was co-headed by the minister of the gender equality and family — an office scheduled to shut down in the government — and a lawmaker representing the county in North Jeolla, while the governor of North Jeolla led the execution committee. From February this year, the ministers of interior affairs and culture and sports, and the head of the Korea Scout Association joined the co-chairs on the organizing committee. It has been unclear who stands at the final command to orchestrate the operation.

The last Jamboree Korea hosted in 1991 in Goseong, Gangwon, under President Roh Tae-woo was a success. It was organized by Kim Suk-won — then head of the Korea Scout Association and chairman of SsangYong Group — and co-chair Gangwon governor with just one-tenth of the budget spent on the Saemangeum event. Kim stayed on the campsite throughout the event, mingling and sharing meals with young scouts. Numerous employees from SsangYong Group were at the site for volunteer work. A command center on the field brought the success to Korea’s first Jamboree hosting.

Whether the organizers of this year’s event checked the files of Goseong event in 1991 is doubtful. One-third of the tents were bought down by strong wind and torrential rains at the time, while makeshift toilets overflowed with waste. The temperature was unseasonably cold for August, and yet the event ended without major issues. If local officials in North Jeolla had not thoroughly studied or neglected the experiences from the Goseong event, they should be blamed.

The 2015 World Scout Jamboree in Karahama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan set a perfect example for Korean organizers, as the event was also held on a tidal flat in August just like the latest Jamboree. But the Saemangeum fiasco suggests that organizers paid little heed to the earlier case in Japan.

After the Saemanguem debacle, I recalled the teachings of the late Seoul National University economics professor of emeritus, Lim Won-taek. He said that a country’s GDP that represents economic power is determined not just by the traditional factors such as capital and labor, but also by its composite capabilities, which include intelligence and ethical powers. Simply put, they are the accumulated resources of a country.

The accumulation process can be different by country. Japan combined Buddhism and Confucianism in a Japanese way to set the foundation for the modernization of the country. It could be referred to as a composite of A+B+C. Meanwhile, Korea has tried to eliminate the remnants of Confucianism by regarding it as a feudal legacy, including Chinese characters by categorizing it as a foreign language. For Korea, it had been always a choice between A and B, or B and C.

Under the Meiji Restoration, Japan added Western systems and styles on top of its mixed history of Buddhism and Confucianism. I personally think Japan far outpaced Korea in modernization because of its engaging and comprehensive methodology. For Korea to outrun Japan, it must maximize the merits of accumulation.

We need not blindly copy Japan. But what’s indisputable is that success comes from addition, not subtraction. We must learn from the successes of the past whether it is ours or others’, and build on today’s failures for a better future. The Saemangeum failure was caused by the habitual subtraction of the legacies of the past government by each incoming government. Bureaucrats must commit to their work with professionalism so that they fulfill their role with responsibility — and in detail — regardless of the governing power.

The World Youth Day — a global event organized by the Catholic Church — will be staged in Seoul in August 2027 with more than one million young Catholics coming from around the world. Korea must not make the same flop as in Saemangeum.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.