Samsung is a leading sponsor of the Olympics and it has been making Olympic Edition iterations of its flagship phones for a while now as a way to promote its latest devices. This year, Samsung gave 17,000 Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition units to participants of the Games in Paris. Every athlete has received one unit of the latest foldable phone.
Athletes taking a selfie on the podium with their medals and this special edition Galaxy Z Flip 6 has become a common sight. Of course, they are allowed to take these phones home with them once they leave Paris, but there's one team that if it took the units home would result in a Samsung device unintentionally violating international sanctions on North Korea.
Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition finds itself in a North Korean sanctions drama
The government of South Korea has flagged that North Korea receiving Samsung's gifted Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition phones may result in a violation of UN sanctions on the hermit kingdom. The North Korean National Olympic Committee has collected these phones on behalf of their athletes. It's unclear if the athletes themselves have been given these devices. They've not been seen using the special edition units like athletes from other countries.
South Korea's Unification Ministry and Foreign Ministry have cited UN Security Council Resolution 2397 as the basis of their warning on sanctions busting. This resolution prohibits the “direct and indirect supply, sale, and transfer of all industrial machinery to North Korea,” including smartphones.
To ensure that this doesn't become a case of sanctions violation, it's imperative that these phones aren't allowed to be flown into North Korea. The South Korean government is reportedly making diplomatic efforts in conversations with French authorities and the International Olympic Committee to ensure the implementation of the resolution. This would ostensibly mean taking the phones back from the North Koreans.
However, the IOC has confirmed that much like other nations' committees, the North Korean National Olympic Committee is not obligated to return the Samsung smartphones. It can't be forced to hand them over. If the phones do make it to North Korea, Samsung wouldn't be to blame.
An official for a South Korean ministry pointed out that Samsung merely gives the phones as part of its sponsorship deal with the Olympics, and that the “final decision on their distribution lies with the IOC.”
