Presidential Office Responds to Moon's 'Jamboree Disruption' Criticism with Warning of "Brazen and Shameless Evaluation"

Former President Moon, via SNS the day before: "Lost national dignity and pride"
Presidential Office: "Need to prepare improvement and response measures... Avoid wasteful political strife"

The Presidential Office criticized former President Moon Jae-in on the 14th for raising the responsibility of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration regarding the disruption of the Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree. However, it also indicated that it would look into the background, stating that "there were aspects that did not proceed as planned."

A Presidential Office official held a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon and responded to Moon's criticism the previous day that the jamboree incident was due to "lack of preparation, causing a loss of national dignity and pride," by citing an editorial from a media outlet that called it a "brazen and shameless act," saying, "We are paying attention to such opinions."

On the previous day, former President Moon posted on social media (SNS), "We lost a lot because of the Saemangeum Jamboree. We lost national dignity and pride. The shame has become the people's burden," adding, "Because of insufficient human preparation, even heaven did not help." He continued, "As the president at the time of securing the event, I express my apology and condolences." The media outlet, in its editorial, wrote, "Considering that the lack of preparation mainly occurred during the Moon administration, this is an outrageous sophistry," and called it a "brazen and shameless act."

However, the Presidential Office emphasized, "This should not become a fruitless political dispute," and stated, "We believe it should be a process to derive productive improvement measures." President Yoon also expressed gratitude at the senior secretaries' meeting in the morning, saying, "I thank the religious groups, companies, universities, and various local governments that played a significant role in smoothly concluding the jamboree and protecting the national brand image," and "I also thank our citizens who warmly welcomed the jamboree participants."

The blame game in the National Assembly is intensifying. The People Power Party raised the responsibility of the Moon Jae-in administration by pointing out the social overhead capital (SOC) budget used by Jeollabuk-do, the jamboree host region, and local political circles, while the Democratic Party criticized the current government's lack of capability in managing international events and demanded a state audit.

The ruling party's reason for holding local governments accountable for the jamboree disruption is due to the enormous SOC project costs. According to data obtained by Song Eon-seok, a People Power Party member and budget committee secretary, the direct and indirect project costs used for the 17th Gangwon-do Goseong Jamboree (held in 1991) were confirmed to be 18.8 billion KRW. Considering inflation and currency value differences, this is estimated to be about 51.3 billion KRW in current terms. In contrast, the recent Saemangeum Jamboree used 11 trillion KRW, including SOC. Major items include the Saemangeum International Airport (807.7 billion KRW) and Saemangeum-Jeonju Expressway (1.92 trillion KRW), internal east-west and north-south roads (788.6 billion KRW), and the Saemangeum New Port (3.2 trillion KRW), all exempted from preliminary feasibility studies.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party demanded responsible reflection from the current government regarding the event's operation. Park Kwang-on, the Democratic Party floor leader, pointed out at the party's supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly that "the public's sense of loss is great due to the jamboree," and "everyone currently in responsible positions is busy blaming others." He added, "Our party's co-organizing chairman Kim Yoon-duk also apologized humbly," and emphasized, "The People Power Party should at least acknowledge this government's lack of preparation." He further urged, "I hope they give up attempts to obscure the essence by mobilizing the Board of Audit and Inspection," and insisted on conducting a state audit. The Democratic Party also added that it would compile a white paper to leave related records.

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