SEOUL – South Korean officials on Thursday flagged that the sleek Samsung smartphones provided to North Korean athletes at the Paris Olympics would violate U.N. Security Council sanctions against the country over its nuclear and missile program.
The South Korean technology giant is a major Olympic partner, and its newest Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones are being given to all athletes competing at the Paris Games.
The International Olympic Committee confirmed that the phones went to the Olympic village bound for the North Korean athletes, but it was unclear what happened to them after that. The IOC didn’t immediately provide more information.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said smartphones are among the items banned under Security Council Resolution 2397 passed in 2017, which prohibits the supply, sale or transfer to North Korea of “all industrial machinery.”
The resolution doesn’t make a distinction between North Korea’s government and its people, and South Korean officials made clear the smartphones would be banned however they entered the country.
Lee Jaewoong, the ministry’s spokesperson, said it would be “critical to prevent the prohibited items from going into North Korea.”
He said the Seoul government was making “necessary diplomatic efforts” to ensure sanctions are upheld but refused to provide details.
The issue also arose during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where the 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 sent 16 athletes to the Paris Games to compete in seven sports, including wrestling, swimming, table tennis and boxing.
North Korea did not participate in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021 because of the country’s self-imposed lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. The IOC then barred the country from participating in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing as punishment for refusing to send a team to Tokyo.
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