Samsung phones are creating an Olympic dilemma
SEOUL, South Korea – Here's an Olympian question that Pyeongchang Winter Olympics' organizer is wrestling with: to give or not to give Samsung Galaxy phones to the 22 North Korean athletes.
Olympic Partner Samsung Electronics has donated some 4,000 Galaxy Note 8 phones for athletes and officials at the International Olympic Committee so that they can document every moment and share their memories with the world.
But the Winter Olympic Games organizer is in limbo about giving the $1,000 device to North Koreans: Would that violate global sanctions designed to punish their government's nuclear ambitions? It's also unclear if the phones would work on networks inside North Korea.
The Galaxy Note 8 Olympic Games phone distributed to athletes is a limited-edition version that's not for sale, but Samsung's Note series are some of the most expensive available in the market. The U.N. sanctions ban supplying or transferring luxury items to North Korea or to North Korean nationals.
The International Olympic Committee has advised the organizer that North Korean athletes can use the phone during the Olympics that open Friday but must return them before their departure.
Even after the IOC's response, the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee is still unsure what to do.
"Somebody should make a clear call, but there is no one who can," said Sung Baik-yoo, the committee's spokesman. "So we have not given the phone [to North Koreans], and we cannot give the phone until we confirm this is not a violation of the U.N. sanctions."
The committee should also take into consideration that all athletes are to be treated equally regardless of their nationality, Sung said.
Athletes from Iran are another group that won't be given the phone due to global sanctions, according to the committee. Other Olympians get the Samsung phone upon arriving at the Olympic Village.
The phone is one of the sticky issues that South Korea is dealing with as it conducts a careful dance of welcoming North Koreans for the Olympics to send a message of peace while trying to avoid causing any frictions with its allies worried about the North's nuclear weapons.
To accommodate North Koreans arriving by sea, South Korea's government had waived its own sanctions imposed against Pyongyang that bans entrance of North Korean vessels. While South Korea said the move was inevitable to ensure the successful hosting of the Olympics, some critics said Seoul is sending the wrong message to North Korea and also the international community, which has been stepping up financial and maritime sanctions against the North in recent months.
On Wednesday, Seoul's Unification Ministry said it's considering North Korea's request to provide fuel to the ferry that transported more than 100 artists for performances at the Olympics. Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said the government will discuss issue with the U.S. and other countries to avoid raising problems with sanctions.