North Korea and the Rio Olympics

North Korea has its first gold medal of the Rio Olympics after Rim Jong Sim won the women’s 75-kilogram weightlifting class. North Korea won four gold medals in London four years ago but started slowly in Rio, with only two silver and two bronze medals before Rim’s win.

Elsewhere on Olympic news, Samsung, notably the electronics giant from South Korea, provided each of the 11,000 athletes competing in the Rio 2016 Olympics with a special edition Galaxy S7 smartphone.

One country, guess which one, refused the gift. According to Radio Free Asia, North Korea prevented its 31 competing athletes from receiving the complimentary phone. Instead, a North Korean official reportedly went to the Samsung office and collected all of the phones that were to be provided to the country’s athletes.

North Korea, a dictatorship and arch enemy of South Korea, has strict rules for its athletes. The Washington Post reported that athletes are not allowed to visit places of interest and are discouraged from interacting with others, although no official reason was released as to why the athletes didn’t receive the phones.

This entry was posted in DPRK Government, Uncategorized by Grant Montgomery.