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A California man has been charged with shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea and told investigators they were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday.

Shenghua Wen came to the U.S. from China on a student visa more than a decade ago after meeting with North Korean officials who instructed him to procure goods for the North Korean government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Wen, 41, was arrested at his home in Ontario, California, without incident Tuesday and charged with conspiring to violate federal law barring the shipments.

He also told investigators that he tried to buy uniforms to disguise North Korean soldiers for the surprise attack, a federal complaint said.

Wen is expected to appear in court later on Tuesday. His federal public defender, Michael Brown, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“It is essential that we protect our country from hostile foreign states that have adverse interests to our nation,” Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea, a U.S. ally, recently delivering nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units.

United Nations resolutions ban North Korea from importing or exporting weapons.


Wen told U.S. authorities in interviews earlier this year that he had exported weapons and ammunition to North Korea at the request of its government. After coming to the U.S. on a student visa in 2012 that was only valid for one year, he stayed in the U.S. illegally, officials said. He was ordered deported in 2018.

Wen said North Korean officials in China contacted him about two years ago to buy firearms and that he shipped two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach, California, to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023. He told U.S. authorities that he was wired about $2 million to do so, according to the complaint.

Authorities did not identify in the complaint what types of weapons were exported.

In order to carry out his operation, Wen bought a business in 2023 called Super Armory, a federal firearms licensee, for $150,000, and registered it in Texas under the name of his partner. He had other people purchase the firearms and then drove them to California, misrepresenting the shipments as a refrigerator and camera parts. Investigators did not say whether Wen had organized any shipments in the previous decade he was in the U.S.

The FBI in September seized 50,000 rounds of ammunition from Wen’s home about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Los Angeles that had been stored in a van parked in the driveway, the complaint said. They also seized a chemical threat identification device and a transmission detective device that Wen said he planned to send to the North Korean government for military use, the complaint said.

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Shenghua Wen, 41, of Ontario, California, was arrested today on a criminal complaint alleging that he exported shipments of firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea that were concealed inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach.

Wen, a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States, was arrested this morning and is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon in the Central District of California.

According to an affidavit filed on Nov. 26 with the complaint, Wen obtained firearms, ammunition, and export-controlled technology with the intention of shipping them to North Korea — a violation of federal law and United States sanctions against that nation. Wen and his co-conspirators allegedly exported shipments of firearms and ammunition to North Korea by concealing the items inside shipping containers that were shipped from Long Beach through Hong Kong to North Korea.

On Aug. 14, law enforcement seized at Wen’s home two devices that he intended to send to North Korea for military use: a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices. On Sept. 6, law enforcement seized approximately 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea.

A review of Wen’s iPhone revealed to law enforcement that in December 2023, Wen smuggled items from Long Beach to Hong Kong with their destination being North Korea. Messages retrieved from Wen’s cellphones revealed discussions he had earlier this year with co-conspirators about shipping military-grade equipment to North Korea. Some of these messages include photographs that Wen sent of items controlled for export under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. From January to April, Wen sent emails and text messages to a U.S.-based broker about obtaining a civilian plane engine. There also were several text messages on Wen’s iPhone concerning price negotiation for the plane and its engine.

Wen is a Chinese national who is illegally in the United States after overstaying his student visa and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition. Wen lacks the required licenses from the U.S. government to export ammunition, firearms, and the other devices that law enforcement seized at his home to North Korea.

Wen is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Gerdes for the Central District of California and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

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Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
How many more of these agents are here and still active? Its scary to think about. Most Chinese people I've encountered from the Mainland believe all of the propaganda, even after experiencing and living the US.

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Originally posted by stoic-one:
How the heck is an "Chinese illegal immigrant" allowed to buy a gun shop?

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Originally posted by wcb6092:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A lot of questions could be answered if people would go read the article from the AP posted by RougeJSK.

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Originally posted by Rick Lee:

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Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
How many more of these agents are here and still active? Its scary to think about. Most Chinese people I've encountered from the Mainland believe all of the propaganda, even after experiencing and living the US.

And my wife is one of them. I have never met a Mainlander in the US whose loyalties are to the US, even those who went through the naturalization process. An ex-GF, also a Mainlander and not loyal to the US at all, called me a few years after we broke up and asked if I'd vouch for her if I get called during her background check for a security clearance. They never called me, though.