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Smuggler from California gets 8 years for arming North Korea

Jacob Shelton August 19, 2025

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(Image Credit: IMAGN) The Kentucky Sentate gavel rests on the wooden sound block in the Kentucky Senate chambers before the first day of Concurrence began at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. March 13, 2025.

Los Angeles, California – A Chinese national who had been living illegally in the United States was sentenced Thursday to eight years in federal prison for smuggling firearms, ammunition, and sensitive technology to North Korea, all while working at the direction of officials in Pyongyang.

Federal prosecutors said 42-year-old Shenghua Wen, of Ontario, California, concealed weapons shipments inside cargo containers that left from the Port of Long Beach and ultimately made their way to North Korea. Court records show he was wired roughly $2 million by North Korean contacts to carry out the scheme.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson handed down the 96-month sentence, calling the case a stark reminder of how foreign governments use covert networks inside the U.S. to acquire banned military goods. Wen had pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Wen first came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2012 but overstayed it a year later. Long before that, prosecutors said, he had been in touch with North Korean officials at their embassy in China. In 2022, they reached out again—this time instructing him through online messaging platforms to acquire weapons, ammunition, and technology.

Over the next two years, Wen built a pipeline. He bought firearms in Texas, drove them to California, and arranged shipments disguised as everyday goods. One container he sent in late 2023 was falsely labeled as containing a refrigerator. It sailed out of Long Beach and arrived in Hong Kong before being moved on to North Korea. Another deal in September 2024 involved the purchase of 60,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

The case also revealed Wen’s efforts to obtain more advanced gear. Prosecutors said he tried to acquire a chemical threat detection device, a broadband receiver for tracking communications, a thermal imaging system, and even a civilian aircraft engine—all items that could be adapted for North Korea’s military use.

Wen admitted he knew the exports were illegal and that he lacked any license to ship the equipment. He also acknowledged that he never notified the U.S. Attorney General, as required by law, that he was acting on behalf of a foreign government.

Wen has been in federal custody since his arrest in December 2024. He will remain in prison until at least 2032, the latest chapter in a case that underscores how far North Korea will go to acquire U.S. weapons—and how seriously American authorities take efforts to stop them.

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