Chinese national sentenced to 8 years for smuggling firearms to North Korea

A Chinese national living illegally in the United States was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for exporting firearms, ammunition, and military equipment to North Korea on behalf of the regime, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Shenghua Wen, 42, residing in Ontario, California, concealed the shipments inside containers that left the Port of Long Beach between 2023 and 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Investigators said Wen acquired or offered to acquire sensitive technology intended for North Korea, including a chemical threat identification device and a broadband receiver, and sought to purchase a civilian aircraft engine and thermal imaging systems suitable for use on drones or helicopters.

According to court documents, two North Korean officials contacted Wen in 2022 through an online messaging platform and instructed him to buy and smuggle firearms from the United States to North Korea via China.

In 2023, at the direction of North Korean officials, Wen shipped at least three containers of firearms from the Port of Long Beach. Prosecutors said he concealed the shipments by filing false export information about their contents.

That same year, Wen purchased a firearms business in Houston using money sent through intermediaries by one of his North Korean contacts. He acquired many of the weapons in Texas, then drove them to California to be shipped overseas.

One container labeled as a refrigerator in December 2023 was sent from Long Beach to Hong Kong before reaching Nampo, North Korea. In 2024, Wen also attempted to buy about 60,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition for shipment.

Wen entered the United States in 2012 on a student visa but remained illegally after it expired in 2013. Prosecutors said he first established contact with North Korean representatives at an embassy in China before being tasked with procuring goods on their behalf.

Wen pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. He has been in federal custody since December 2024.

Wen admitted he acted under the direction of North Korean government officials, who transferred about $2 million to fund the scheme.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.