[Exclusive] Minister of Gender Equality and Family Who Said "No Issues with Jamboree" Reported Internally "Staff Shortage Causes Problems"

Why Did the Saemangeum Jamboree Keep Facing Disruptions?
Planned 298 Staff but Ordered "Limit to 106"
Harsh Pay of 600,000 Won, Only 79 Actual Employees
Only 2 Staff for Roads, Traffic, Broadcasting, Power, Drainage, and Heatwave
After Failing Private Recruitment, Late Request for "Government Official Dispatch"

A water faucet at the Jamboree campsite in Buan-gun, Jeonbuk, where the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree was held.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Saemangeum Jamboree Organizing Committee was confirmed to have been struggling to secure the necessary personnel until just before the event. Although the Minister of Gender Equality and Family confidently stated that "preparations will proceed without any setbacks," internal reports indicated that "setbacks are occurring." In particular, the safety, food, health, and medical sectors were prepared without even forming dedicated teams.

Due to poor working conditions compounded by wage issues, the organizing committee failed to fully recruit private personnel until the very end. Consequently, they reduced the number of private staff and urgently requested affiliated public officials from related ministries and local governments in Jeollabuk-do multiple times. Ultimately, criticism arose that one of the decisive causes of the Saemangeum Jamboree’s disruption was the sloppy organizational and staffing plan.

Planned 298 Personnel... Government Ordered "Limit to 106"

According to the Saemangeum Jamboree Organizing Committee composition plans obtained by Asia Economy on the 10th, the initial jamboree organizing committee composition plan was completed on June 12, 2020. At that time, the organizing committee task force planned to appoint the Minister of Gender Equality and Family and Kim Yoon-duk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, as chairpersons and recruit 150 committee members. The secretariat staff responsible for practical work was organized into a total of 28 people, structured as 1 president, 3 headquarters, and 7 teams. When preparing for the pre-jamboree, the number of staff was to increase to 106, and during the main World Jamboree event, it was planned to expand to 298. The organizational structure was also to be significantly expanded to 5 headquarters, 12 departments, and 40 teams.

According to the plan, the workforce should have increased to 298 by July last year, but this was canceled during consultations with related ministries such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in July 2021. Instead, the government instructed to prepare the jamboree with a drastically reduced number of 106 personnel. The organizing committee stated that "wage issues were the main obstacle." A committee official hinted, "The wage budget needed to be allocated, but it was not at that time, so that decision was made."

The organizing committee did not receive the wage budget properly due to recruitment issues. The committee failed to fully recruit the necessary personnel by February this year. The actual number of working staff was 79, with a vacancy rate of 25.4%. Only 4 out of 18 practical departments were fully staffed. In particular, private experts, who must be positioned for event preparation, were not properly recruited. The private recruitment rate was only 46.6%. Despite six attempts to announce private professional recruitment last year, 7 out of 27 positions remained unfilled. It was explained that it was impossible to recklessly pay wages for 300 people to an organization that could not even fill 100 positions.

'Monthly Salary 600,000 Won'... Only 79 Actual Staff Due to Harsh Conditions

Kim Hyun-sook, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is entering the emergency response team meeting for the Saemangeum Jamboree held on the 9th at the situation room inside the Government Seoul Office Building.

The background to the organizing committee’s difficulty in recruiting personnel was poor working conditions. Those affiliated with the jamboree organizing committee had to start work in Haseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do. Private experts received a minimum monthly salary of only 2.3 million won. For dispatched workers, the pay was even lower, ranging from 600,000 to 800,000 won per month. The working period was at most one year and could end in as little as three months. Compared to executives who were paid up to 9 million won monthly or the secretary-general of the organizing committee who received over 10 million won in holiday bonuses, the treatment of the private sector was considered excessively poor.

Due to the shortage of preparatory personnel, an internal report was drafted within the organizing committee highlighting problems with jamboree preparations. In an internal report last February, the committee pointed out, "It is difficult to recruit private professionals and supplement staff through private dispatch," and "So far, crisis response, safety management, health and medical measures and support, and transportation and catering for large numbers have been carried out without dedicated teams due to personnel shortages." They also expressed concern that "lack of understanding of the jamboree event and communication difficulties are causing setbacks in event preparations." Even in March, less than five months before the jamboree, there were reports stating that "personnel supplementation is necessary" for food hygiene, safety, and transportation measures.

This contrasts with the remarks of Minister Kim Hyun-sook of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, who stated that there were no problems with jamboree preparations. On August 18 last year, during a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Gender Equality Committee, when asked, "The jamboree opening is ten months away; do you think preparations will go well?" Minister Kim replied, "Of course. I believe preparations will proceed without setbacks." She added, "Measures for typhoons and heatwaves have also been fully established." While the staff struggled with manpower shortages in preparing the jamboree, the chairperson, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family, seemed unaware of the on-site situation.

Only 2 Personnel in Charge of Convenience Facilities, Roads, Transportation, Broadcasting, Power, Electricity, Drainage, Water Supply, and Heatwave Measures

The government belatedly realized the problem and launched a large-scale recruitment effort less than six months before the event. As private recruitment became virtually impossible, the organizing committee requested public officials from central ministries and Jeollabuk-do cities and counties to be dispatched. The private personnel quota, initially set at a minimum of 58, was drastically reduced to 38 to accommodate public official dispatches. There were seven separate government personnel requests made before the jamboree. It was also at this time that Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Interior and Safety, and Park Bo-gyun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, were suddenly added as co-chairpersons of the organizing committee.

Departments that experienced recruitment difficulties eventually faced incidents and accidents due to inadequate preparation. The infrastructure team is a representative example. Only two people were responsible for all infrastructure of the Saemangeum Jamboree. They were tasked with drainage, convenience facilities, heatwave countermeasures, and installation and maintenance of roads, transportation, broadcasting, power, electricity, and water supply across the entire site. Due to the overwhelming workload, they failed to inspect preparation status, resulting in water accumulation at the campsite and insufficient installation of heatwave facilities. The catering management team, which consisted of only two people, failed to prevent rotten eggs from being distributed.

Regarding the jamboree manpower shortage, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main ministry in charge, responded, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety reviews and makes the final decision on personnel, and it seems the number was reduced during that process." They added, "The final number of about 100 was probably decided and notified by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety." They acknowledged, "There was indeed a shortage of actual personnel," and "Even afterward, requests for personnel dispatch were made to various ministries and local governments, but recruitment was difficult because the secretariat was located in Saemangeum."

Meanwhile, a large-scale audit is expected regarding the jamboree disruption after the event. According to the Presidential Office and the ruling party, the government is expected to launch an investigation into the jamboree organizing committee, Jeollabuk-do, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family next week. The audit will likely cover all areas, including the organizational process and inappropriate budget execution.