Success of the 38th World Scout Conference

*Photo: Distinguished guests including Dr. KANG Young Joong, President of Korea Scout Association (middle) and Dr. HAN Seung Soo, the Prime Minister (left) attended the Opening Ceremony of the 38th World Scout Conference.


-- Success of 38th World Scout Conference--
14 July 2008 - The first day of the 38th World Scout Conference on Jeju Island, Korea has been a great success. The World Scout Conference is the governing body, the 'general assembly' of Scouting, and is composed of all the members of the Organisation: the National Scout Organizations. This particular triennial event is likely to be the largest, as the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) now consists of 160 member NSOs.

One of the first orders of the day was to officially welcome the four new members of WOSM to their first Conference as participants. A representative from the National Association of Cambodian Scouts (NACS), Association of Scouts of Montenegro, Scouts of Syria, and National Organization of Scouts of Ukraine (NOSU) were met on stage by all of the World Scout Committee members and presented with their certificate of membership to WOSM.

The afternoon's plenary session included the speeches of the Chairman of the World Scout Committee (Mr. Philippe Da Costa) and the Acting Secretary General of WOSM (Mr. Luc Panissod). They both spoke of their hopes for this 38th World Scout Conference, the importance of working together for the unity of the Movement and working towards the future of Scouting around the world.

The evening's Opening Ceremony was quite a spectacular affair, with a special visit from both the Prime Minister and Governor of Korea. The Prime Minister expressed his admiration for Scouting and how it is educating young people around the world, and how proud he was to have the Organization choose to hold the Conference here in Korea.