Criticism of 'Jamboree Extravagant Trip' Met with Buan-gun's Explanation: "Fully Funded by County Budget"

"Using Own Budget, Not Jamboree Budget"
"UK Football Viewing Part of Internal Staff Training Schedule"

Jeonbuk Buan-gun clarified that some media reports claiming that public officials went on leisure trips ahead of the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree are "not true."

On the 8th, Buan-gun stated in a clarification that "Regarding some media reports about 'Buan-gun's overseas trips related to the Jamboree,' the claim that there were 25 overseas trips related to the World Jamboree is not true," and explained, "Among these, 5 trips include 3 related to Buan-gun's own staff backpacking training unrelated to the World Jamboree and 2 related to the establishment of cruise base ports."

Buan County Office building view
Photo by Yonhap News

In other words, out of 16 overseas trips related to the World Jamboree by Buan-gun, 13 were official Scout events jointly held with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Korea Scout Association, and Jeonbuk Province, and the remaining 3 were overseas trips promoted by Buan-gun (using its own budget) for policy research on Jamboree activity sites and participation in the North American World Jamboree," it stated.

In particular, the currently controversial trips to watch football in the UK, Disneyland, and the Eiffel Tower were part of Buan-gun's own annual overseas backpacking training schedule for staff morale boosting and were unrelated to the Jamboree.

Buan-gun emphasized again that "Reports claiming that staff went on leisure overseas trips using the World Jamboree budget are completely untrue, and the trips in question were part of Buan-gun's own overseas backpacking training schedule."

On the 8th, as the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree participants departed, the Jamboree campsite in Buan-gun, Jeonbuk, became quiet.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Additionally, they disclosed an official document showing the selection results of the Buan-gun overseas backpacking training team conducted in 2019.

A Buan-gun official said, "Following negative evaluations of the 2023 World Jamboree and inaccurate reports about Buan-gun, we are experiencing many difficulties," and added, "We hope that the public officials and Buan-gun, who have silently and diligently worked for the Jamboree, will not be hurt again by speculation or exaggerated reports."

The county further stated, "Although it is regrettable and disappointing that the Jamboree venue had to be changed due to a typhoon, Buan-gun, as the host, will do its utmost to ensure the Jamboree concludes safely until the very end."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.