Inland Empire Man Admits Procuring Weapons For North Korea: DOJ

ONTARIO, CA — A Chinese national living in Ontario on an expired student visa pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Shenghua Wen, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson scheduled an August 18 sentencing hearing, at which time Wen will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and up to 10 years in federal prison on the count of being an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Wen was arrested in December 2024, following an investigation led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. According to the DOJ, Wen entered the United States in 2012 on a student visa and remained in the U.S. illegally after that document expired in December 2013.

Prior to entering the U.S., Wen met with North Korean government officials at a North Korean embassy in China. The officials directed him to procure goods on behalf of North Korea, according to the DOJ narrative. It's unclear whether Wen was under any duress by the North Korean officials.

In 2022, two North Korean government officials contacted Wen through an online messaging platform and told him to buy and smuggle firearms and other goods, including "sensitive technology," from the United States to North Korea via China, the narrative continued.

Wen apparently obliged. In 2023, at the direction of North Korean government officials, Wen shipped at least three containers of firearms out of the Port of Long Beach to China en route to their ultimate destination in North Korea, the DOJ said.

Wen took steps to conceal that he was illegally shipping firearms to North Korea by, among other things, filing false export information regarding the contents of the containers, according to the federal agency.

The ruse continued when, in May 2023, Wen bought a firearms business in Houston, paid for with money sent through intermediaries by one of Wen’s North Korean contacts. Wen purchased many of the firearms he sent to North Korea in Texas, then drove the weapons to California, where he arranged for them to be shipped, the DOJ alleged.

Just a few months later, in September 2024, Wen — once again acting at the direction of North Korean officials — bought approximately 60,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that he intended to ship to North Korea, according to the DOJ. Wen also obtained sensitive technology that he was supposed to send to North Korea, including "a chemical threat identification device and a handheld broadband receiver that detects known, unknown, illegal, disruptive or interfering transmissions."

The DOJ also said, "Wen also acquired or offered to acquire a civilian airplane engine and a thermal imaging system that could be mounted on a drone, helicopter, or other aircraft, and could be used for reconnaissance and target identification."

During the scheme, North Korean officials wired approximately $2 million to Wen to procure the goods for their government, the DOJ said.