The International Olympic Committee(IOC) said on Thursday that North Korean team members have not received the Samsung Electronics smartphones that were given for free to all athletes at the Paris 2024 Games.

In a brief one-sentence statement, the IOC confirmed that athletes from the National Olympic Committee(NOC) of North Korea did not receive the Samsung phones.

Samsung Electronics, a top sponsor of the IOC, handed out its special “Olympic edition” Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones to all competing athletes in Paris. 

The IOC's statement followed concerns raised by South Korea's foreign ministry, which said that giving the phones to North Korean athletes could violate UN Security Council Resolution 2397. The resolution bans the supply, sale, or transfer of all industrial machinery to North Korea, including smartphones.

The unification ministry also issued a similar stance, saying that smartphones are classified as prohibited goods under the 2017 resolution.

Although it was initially reported that the NOC had received the Samsung phones for North Korean athletes in the Olympic Village, the IOC later denied this in its statement.