North Korean Olympic athletes denied gifts from Samsung that every other team got

The North Korean Olympic team has five medals at the Paris Olympics so far, but it will go home empty-handed when it comes to new smartphones. 

The International Olympic Committee announced on Thursday that North Korea’s athletes will be the only athletes in Paris not to receive complimentary Samsung smartphones that went to all the other teams.

Samsung, a South Korea-based sponsor of the Olympics, announced it would be providing 10,500 complimentary new phones to this year’s Olympians. The company offered the Galaxy Z Flip6, which includes a foldable screen, which is not featured in any available iPhone products. 

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North Korean Olympic athletes won’t be getting complimentary smartphones from Samsung. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images/File)

But the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Thursday that providing Samsung smartphones to North Korean Olympians could defy U.N. sanctions related to Pyongyang’s weapons program.

“The U.N. Security Council, in accordance with paragraph 7 of Resolution 2397 (2017), prohibits the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of all industrial machinery to North Korea, and smartphones are prohibited items subject to the resolution,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Our government is continuing to make diplomatic efforts in cooperation with the international community to ensure the thorough implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006, and the sanctions have become more restrict over the years.

North Korean athletes are shown during the team’s boat ride on the Seine River as part of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s military recently boasted about advancements in its weaponry. The North Korean Central News Agency said in early July that the military had tested the Hwasongpho-11 Da-4.5 missile, which can carry a 4.5-ton warhead.

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Just days later, the South Korean military announced it was preparing “Star Wars” laser defense systems as countermeasures to North Korea’s advancing weapons. 

“Our country is becoming the first country in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, and our military’s response capabilities on North Korea’s drone provocation will be further strengthened,” the nation’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration wrote in a statement.

Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae of North Korea compete in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform final. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Tensions between the two nations have resulted in similar incidents involving Samsung in the past.

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At the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, North Koreans refused to receive Samsung devices that the organizing committee had offered under condition that they return them before heading home, according to South Korean officials.

North Korea has 14 athletes participating in the Paris Olympics. The country won silver in mixed doubles table tennis behind Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong. It also won a silver in diving in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform behind Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae. 

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.

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