No Galaxy for you! North Korea's Olympians shut out of special Samsung handout
Samsung is giving a Pyeongchang 2018 edition of its Galaxy Note 8 to Olympians and officials at the Winter Games, but North Korea’s athletes aren’t getting the high-tech giveaway.
The isolated nation’s squad has been left empty-handed due to United Nations sanctions that ban the sending of luxury items to North Korea or to North Korean nationals, according to an Associated Press report. Galaxy Note 8 phones are priced at around $1,000 and up.
The International Olympic Committee advised Pyeongchang organizers that North Koreans could use the Samsung gadgets during the games and then give them back before returning home, the AP report said. But the Organizing Committee decided not to include the squad in the distribution of about 4,000 free handsets, to ensure that it wouldn’t violate sanctions.
Athletes from Iran, also under UN sanctions, won’t receive the special-edition phones either.
This isn't the first time that the North Korean team has missed out on free devices from long-time Olympics sponsor Samsung 005930, +0.44%SSNLF, -3.07% . The country’s sports officials turned down Rio 2016-themed phones two years ago.
Read: Norovirus at Winter Olympics ‘rings alarms over the management of hygiene conditions’
And see:U.S. opens door to meeting with North Korea at Olympics
A spokeswoman for the Pyeongchang organizers spelled it out to the Agence France-Presse news agency as follows:
“North Korean and Iranian athletes will be excluded because of existing UN sanctions.”
It’s not the only kerfuffle over a gotta-have-it product ahead of Friday’s opening ceremonies.
Norway's Olympians ended up with 15,000 eggs, rather than the 1,500 that they wanted, because they made a mistake while using Google Translate to place an order.
OL-leiren bestilte 1500 egg gjennom å oversette via Google Translate. Men det slo feil. 15.000 ble levert på døra. Vi ønsker lykke til og håper at de norske gullhåpene er glade – veldig glade – i egg: 😁 pic.twitter.com/qaWVpq1Xgy
— Trønder-Avisa (@tronderavisa) February 3, 2018
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