Updated 5/8/2023 10:58

The World Scout Movement Organization (WOSM) has asked South Korea to postpone the Scout Jamboree. This was reported by the AP, according to which thousands of British scouts began to leave the coastal camps due to the scorching heat. The American and Singaporean Scouts will be leaving soon. Hundreds of participants already felt nauseous due to the heat. Scouts from the Czech Republic also attended the event. South Korea decided to go ahead with the action, Reuters reported.

The World Scout Movement organization asked South Korean organizers to “consider alternative options to end the event earlier than planned and support participants until they leave for their home countries.” If the organizers decide to go ahead with the event, said WOSM, they should ensure that they will do everything possible to solve the problems caused by the heat wave by providing additional financial and human resources for the event.

The organization issued a statement after the UK Scout Association, the largest with 4,000 participants at the gathering, announced it was withdrawing from the event on Friday. Members stay at hotels in Seoul to facilitate the location of the jamboree. The expedition should leave the country as planned – on Sunday, August 13th. This week, hundreds of American Scouts will also withdraw from the event due to weather and conditions on the ground, which will head to the US military base Humphreys in South Korea, writes Reuters. Dozens of scouts from Singapore also withdrew.

On the contrary, representatives of several countries such as the Philippines or Argentina actually announced that they would continue to attend the jamboree. The head of the Argentine Association of Scouts, Marina Rustánová, said she saw some improvements in the camp.

The jamboree will continue, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk-so said, according to Reuters. His government came to the decision together with the Korean Scout Organization after consulting with other countries. South Korea’s Jonhap news agency earlier reported that organizers planned a meeting later today to discuss whether to continue, cancel or scale back the event. The Jamboree is scheduled to end on August 12.

The Asian country is experiencing one of the hottest summers in recent years. Since Wednesday, paramedics have treated hundreds of participants with heat problems, the AP wrote. The temperature in the southern region of South Korea, where the demonstrations were held, was between 35 and 38 degrees, he said.

The withdrawal of the American and Singaporean scout troops is a fresh blow to organizers and the South Korean government, which on Friday promised more water tankers, air-conditioned rooms and medics in a bid to save the event, according to a Reuters note. According to the AP, organizers have also canceled activities that require strenuous physical activity.

About 40,000 participants from over 150 countries attended the event, including 413 people from the Czech Republic. The Czech expedition also intends to be present at the event, said spokesman Junák Barbora Trojak. “We are not considering early returns at this time. If the event progresses as it develops, with conditions not getting worse, but better, and if we don’t get different feedback from participants than now, when it looks like they are enjoying the event and nothing distracts them them and they are fine, so we would not consider leaving,” he said.