Jamboree programs to be held indoors Thursday due to typhoon

Cultural experience programs for World Scout Jamboree participants, evacuated to eight different regions from the Saemangeum venue earlier this week, will be held only indoors Thursday due to the onset of the powerful Typhoon Khanun, a minister in charge of the event’s safety said Wednesday.

About 37,000 young Scouts and adult volunteers from 156 countries moved to 128 different accommodations in Seoul and seven other regions Tuesday due to the approach of the typhoon forecast to hit the nation’s southern coast Thursday morning. Khanun is expected to keep moving north and pass as close as 30 kilometers east of Seoul around 9 p.m. Thursday.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min said the government is determined to prohibit any outdoor programs for the jamboree participants during Thursday.

“Outdoor activities (of jamboree participants) will be blocked tomorrow because the typhoon will pass right through the center of our country,” Lee said in a media briefing, adding the decision was made himself as the minister in charge of safety.

On Wednesday, the young Scouts participated in various cultural experience programs prepared by local governments of the eight regions, such as “Welcome to Seoul Dance Night,” a tour of a temporary palace at Hwaseong Fortress in Gyeonggi Province and the so-called Mud Mob-Scene festival in the central western coast town of Boryeong.

“Outdoor programs are possible until today. Even if programs are held tomorrow, they should take place indoors,” Lee stressed. Local governments are expected to flexibly offer indoor programs, such as a tea ceremony experience, to the jamboree participants Thursday, he said.

The minister also said the government will make all efforts to keep the jamboree participants safe from the typhoon, and police and other public officials will inspect all risk factors, such as flooding, falling objects and landslides, around their accommodations.

Asked about the typhoon’s possible impact on the K-pop concert slated to begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Seoul World Cup Stadium for the jamboree participants, Lee said the nation is expected to escape from Khanun’s influence by then.