At the 41st World Scout Conference held at Baku Congress Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Aug. 16, 160 member countries voted on the host location of the 25th World Scout Jamboree in 2023. Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, was chosen as the host.

While etymological theories abound for the word “jamboree,” the scouting movement’s founder Robert Baden-Powell popularized the term with the 1st World Scout Jamboree in 1920, whereupon he said the term “will be associated to the largest gathering of youth that ever took place.” Today there are national and continental jamborees hosted around the world, generally every four years.

The intention of the World Scout Jamboree is a gathering of our youths of tomorrow, regardless of nationality, race, religion and language, for a period of camping and common activities to foster friendship and development and contribute to national development and world peace.

The youths around the world attending the jamboree are to build a temporary “global tent city,” which is to include lodging, markets, hospitals and other facilities, just as an actual city does. The citizens of this city are the youths who will lead our future societies and they will also lead the city.

The Scout Movement was first organized in England in 1907 and has become a worldwide youth nongovernmental organization participated in by 40 million youths from 165 member nations. The organization is also in mutually cooperative relationships with various international bodies including UNICEF, ECOSOC, UNESCO and the WHO.

The Korea Scout Association made noticeable growth and has been recognized as the most successful national by the World Scout Committee. The 17th World Scout Jamboree was hosted in Goseong, Gangwon Province, in 1991, and was attended by 133 member nations. The 38th World Scout Conference was hosted on Jeju Island in 2008 and attended by 156 member nations.

In hosting these two events, many youths and leaders from abroad visited Korea, promoting cultural understanding and international status and reliability. It also brought upon considerable economic benefits.

With the youths from around the world visiting Korea, they were able to perceive our future and advocate Korea through cultural understanding. It also offered opportunities for them to become pro-Korea ambassadors.

By hosting the 25th World Scout Jamboree in 2023, we are able to attain a handful of beneficial effects.

First, by hosting this enormous international event attended by over 50,000 youths and 30 leaders from 160 countries, we are able to raise the national status and brand value of Korea through Hallyu cultural contents.

Second, because a jamboree is significantly less burdensome financially than the Olympics or World Cup, it is able to create high efficiency effects with a low budget. It will bring in an economic profit of at least $1 billion, resulting in a state-level economic ripple effect.

Third, Korean youths will be able to strengthen their global competence. In the purview of social structure, youths attending jamboree events are able to develop proper character, sociality, leadership and occupational views as well as magnanimity, providing ample opportunities for them to grow into apt members of society.

Fourth, the educational impact of jamborees demonstrates four definitive effects: it improves human relations; it facilitates leading roles in social development; it raises the sense of responsibility of a citizen; and it assists delinquent youths in returning to the right track.

A large gathering of youths and adults to pioneer, explore, communicate and debate, jamborees are able to strengthen personal competence and fulfill the needs derived from stress, anxiety and incongruity in social norms and become a model for character education.


By Ahn Byung-il

Ahn Byung-il is the secretary-general of the South Seoul Scout Council and an adjunct professor at Global Cyber University. -- Ed.