Los Angeles, California – A Chinese national who had been living illegally in the United States was sentenced Thursday to eight years in federal prison for smuggling firearms, ammunition, and sensitive technology to North Korea, all while working at the direction of officials in Pyongyang.
Federal prosecutors said 42-year-old Shenghua Wen, of Ontario, California, concealed weapons shipments inside cargo containers that left from the Port of Long Beach and ultimately made their way to North Korea. Court records show he was wired roughly $2 million by North Korean contacts to carry out the scheme.
U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson handed down the 96-month sentence, calling the case a stark reminder of how foreign governments use covert networks inside the U.S. to acquire banned military goods. Wen had pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government…