North Korean Olympians Denied Smartphones Over Sanctions

North Korean athletes have missed on one of the prized freebies at the Paris Olympics because of U.N. sanctions. South Korean tech giant Samsung, a major Olympic sponsor, has been giving all Olympic athletes its latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 folding smartphones—and also encouraging them to take selfies on the medal podium and around Olympic venues, Reuters reported . But after a warning from Seoul that giving smartphones to North Korean athletes would breach U.N. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, the IOC confirmed that 14 North Korean athletes in Paris did not receive the $1100 phones. “We can confirm that the athletes of the National Olympic Committee of DPRK have not received the Samsung phones,” an IOC spokesperson said. The same issue arose at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea when North Koreans were offered the phones but only if they promised to give them back before they left. The team refused.

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