Lim Jong-hoon (R) and Shin Yu-bin (2nd from R) of South Korea take a selfie using a Samsung-gifted smartphone with their North Korean and Chinese counterparts on the podium during the awards ceremony of the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Paris Olympics at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris on July 30, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The unification ministry said Thursday North Korean Olympic athletes receiving Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphones could be in violation of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
Samsung Electronics, an Olympic partner, has distributed the Olympic edition of its latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones to all athletes participating in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Citing the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Radio Free Asia, a U.S. media outlet, reported the National Olympic Committee of North Korea has received the Samsung smartphones for its athletes.
The unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said Resolution 2397, adopted in December 2017, bans the supply, sale and transfer of all electronic goods to North Korea.
“But this is an issue to be ultimately answered by the IOC,” a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
In the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018, North Korea refused to receive Samsung smartphones as the organizer of the Winter Games offered to provide them under the condition that North Korean athletes return the phones before heading home.
(Yonhap)
