Korean firms scrambling to shore up heat-plagued jamboree
Participants of the 25th World Scout Jamboree rest under a vine-covered tunnel in Buan, Aug. 6. Yonhap
Korean companies were scrambling Monday to support the heat-plagued World Scout Jamboree by providing supplies and health care professionals to try to alleviate any difficulties that young attendees might feel from the extreme heat.
Samsung Group sent around 150 employees to the Saemangeum campsite, a reclaimed wetland on the southwest coast, on Monday to help clean up the site.
Samsung, the country's largest conglomerate with hundreds of businesses, including hospitals, already dispatched an 11-member medical team on the weekend. It has also supplied portable toilets, electric carts and sports drinks to improve the conditions there.
Samsung Electronics said it will run a tour program of its chip factories, either in Pyeongtaek or Hwaseong, both in Gyeonggi Province, and other facilities for the Scouts.
A medical worker on Samsung Group's medical team tends to a patient at the Saemangeum campsite for the World Scout Jamboree in this Aug. 6 photo provided by Samsung Group. Yonhap
Over the weekend, thousands of attendees from Great Britain, the United States and Singapore left the campsite over health concerns, as the extreme heat wave continued to bake the country.
The Korean organizers have also faced mounting criticism for their seeming lack of adequate preparation, despite prior warnings from critics of inclement weather conditions and the potential risks for the young participants.
LG Group said Sunday that it will send an additional 300 tents, so that participants can rest in the shade. It previously sent portable electric fans, neck coolers and other supplies.
The company said it was also considering opening tour programs of its factories and other facilities, including the Innovation Gallery inside LG Science Park, located in western Seoul, and Hwadam Botanic Garden in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.
Other big companies, including steel giant POSCO; HD Hyundai Group, a shipbuilding, oil refining and machinery conglomerate; and GS Engineering Construction, have started to take similar steps to help improve camping conditions.
Food and beverage giant SPC Group said it will daily provide ice cream and baked goods to the Scouts until the event ends Saturday. (Yonhap)