North Korea has been secretly procuring weapons and military equipment from the United States. A significant revelation has emerged regarding these activities. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that a Chinese citizen residing in California has been sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling weapons and military supplies to North Korea.
The Chinese national, identified as Shenghua Wen, aged 42, received approximately $2 million (about 16 crore rupees) from North Korean officials. In exchange, he facilitated shipments of weapons and sensitive technology from the United States to North Korea.
Wen arrived in the U.S. in 2012 on a student visa but remained after his visa expired in 2013. Documents presented in court indicate that before arriving in the U.S., he met with North Korean embassy officials in China, where he was tasked with acquiring weapons and supplies for North Korea.
In 2022, North Korean officials contacted him through an online messaging app, instructing him to send weapons. Subsequently, in 2023, he sent multiple containers filled with weapons from the Long Beach Port (California) via China. He falsely declared the contents as household goods, such as refrigerators. One container reached Hong Kong in January 2024 and was then directly shipped to Nampo, North Korea.
The investigation also revealed that Wen used funds received from North Korea to purchase a gun shop in Houston, Texas. From there, he shipped thousands of weapons to California, which were later sent to North Korea. In September 2024, he planned to purchase and send approximately 60,000 rounds of ammunition.
Despite international sanctions, North Korea continued to acquire weapons from the U.S. Under United Nations Security Council regulations, North Korea is strictly prohibited from purchasing or selling weapons and military equipment. The United States has also imposed numerous sanctions on North Korea due to its nuclear and missile programs. Nevertheless, North Korea has persistently circumvented international sanctions. In 2015, the U.S. blacklisted a Singaporean shipping company accused of assisting North Korea in illegal arms supplies.