IOC Officially Confirms "North Korean Athletes Did Not Accept Samsung Phones" [Paris Olympics]

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially announced on the 8th (Korean time) that "we confirm that the North Korean delegation did not receive Samsung phones."

This is an official response to the South Korean government's position that the North Korean delegation participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics may have violated UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea by receiving Samsung Electronics smartphones.

The IOC provided all athletes participating in the Paris Olympics with the specially made smartphone 'Galaxy Z Flip6' by Samsung Electronics, the official Olympic sponsor.

Although it was reported that the North Korean National Olympic Committee (NOC) also collectively received smartphones at the Samsung Olympic Experience Center within the athletes' village, the IOC denied this after verification procedures.

Artificial Flag Over Medal
(Paris=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Junhee = On the 6th (local time), at the Aquatic Center in Paris, France, North Korean diver Kim Mirae, who won the bronze medal in the women's 10m platform final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, posed with the artificial flag spread out alongside the Chinese medalists. 2024.8.6
hama@yna.co.kr
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Earlier, Lee Jae-woong, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing that "The UN Security Council prohibits all direct and indirect supply, sale, and transfer of industrial machinery to North Korea under Resolution 2397, paragraph 7," adding, "Smartphones fall under the prohibited items according to the resolution."

Some members of the North Korean delegation, participating in the Summer Olympics for the first time in eight years, are reported to have already returned to North Korea after completing their events.

This is not the first time controversy has arisen regarding the provision of Samsung smartphones to the North Korean delegation at the Olympics. In 2018, when the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Organizing Committee proposed providing Samsung smartphones to North Korean athletes on the condition that they return them before returning home due to concerns about sanctions violations, North Korea refused to accept them altogether.