A man from California has confessed to facilitating an unusual attack on South Korea by transporting weapons and ammunition to North Korea, authorities revealed on Tuesday.
Shenghua Wen, 42, entered the U.S. from China in 2012 on a student visa, yet stayed beyond its expiration, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Wen pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy charges related to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and acting as an unauthorized agent for a foreign government.
He received a sentence on Monday.
Investigators learned Wen had meetings with North Korean officials at a Chinese embassy before moving to the U.S., during which he was instructed to acquire goods for the North Korean regime.
He also confessed to attempting to obtain uniforms meant for North Korean soldiers that were intended to be concealed for operations, according to federal documents.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has signaled plans to deploy nuclear weapons near the South Korean border.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from any arms transactions.
In 2022, Wen was contacted by North Korean officials through an online messaging app, who directed him to purchase a firearm, as prosecutors stated.
Wen sent two firearms and additional items to North Korea from Long Beach, California, via Hong Kong earlier this year.
He admitted to having transferred around $2 million to facilitate these actions.
However, the authorities did not provide details about the specific weapons involved.
To conduct his operations, Wen acquired a business named Super Armory, which has a federal firearms license, in 2023 for $150,000, registering it in the name of a business partner in Texas.
He allowed others to purchase firearms and transport them to California, disguising the cargo as refrigerator and camera parts.
It remains unclear if Wen arranged shipments during his initial years in the U.S.
In September, the FBI seized 50,000 rounds of ammunition from Wen’s residence in Ontario, stored in a van parked in the driveway. They also confiscated devices for identifying chemical threats and communication equipment that Wen claimed were meant for the North Korean military.
