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Chinese national in California jailed for exporting weapons to North Korea
Euronews ^ | 20/08/2025 | Kieran Guilbert

Posted on 08/20/2025 7:47:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2 million (€1.7 million) from North Korean officials to ship firearms and ammunition from California. A Chinese national in California has been sentenced to eight years in prison for shipping firearms and ammunition to North Korea.

North Korean officials paid Shenghua Wen around $2 million (€1.7 million) to ship two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach in California to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023, according to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty in June 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, the authorities said. Wen was sentenced on Monday.

Wen arrived in the US from China on a student visa in 2012 and remained in the country illegally after it expired in December 2023, according to the attorney's office.

He told investigators that before he entered the US, he met with North Korean officials at an embassy in China, where they instructed him to procure goods for Pyongyang.

(Excerpt) Read more at euronews.com ...


TOPICS: China; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2012; 2015; 2022; 202304; 202312; 202409; 202506; 202508; 9mm; 9mmammo; ak5000; ak5000inc; ammunition; andre; armssmuggling; arthurkuo; arxmkiipharma; axisofevil; blueprints; california; ccp; chemicaldetector; china; coachkuo; coachkuoarthurkuo; drone; droneengine; drones; eavesdropping; embassy; expiredvisa; falseflag; firearms; foreignagent; gunstore; gwot; hongkong; houston; illegalalien; illegalimmigrant; jstrading; kuo; longbeach; nampo; nearfielddetection; nk; nkorea; norks; northkorea; northkoreans; ontario; ontarioca; pyongyang; receiver; refrigerator; schematics; serstech; shenghuawen; studentvisa; superarmory; surveillance; uniforms; wen
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1 posted on 08/20/2025 7:47:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

You see, and these are the people I want ICE and authorities to expend more energies focused on. And some are here legally and in top ranks of institutions!


2 posted on 08/20/2025 7:50:01 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: nickcarraway

“Authorities did not specify in the complaint the types of weapons that were exported.”

I’m curious. He bought them in Texas and shipped out of CA as refrigerator and camera parts. Weird story. China can’t give them all the rounds and guns they need or what?

Freegards


3 posted on 08/20/2025 8:00:37 PM PDT by Ransomed
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To: nickcarraway

North Korea makes their own weapons so what is so special about these that the Norks wanted to hire a smuggler?


4 posted on 08/20/2025 8:02:14 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nickcarraway

I heard about this the other day. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me on the face of it. North Korea makes warehouses full of whatever weapons they want. Why is this guy trying to sneak weapons INTO N.K.? There must be more to the story.


5 posted on 08/20/2025 8:02:22 PM PDT by oldplayer
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To: nickcarraway

what? Exporting weapons and ammo from Ca? Was it just warehousing to ship from elsewhere? They could just wholesale from Ukraine or find Holder and Obama and ..eh this is weird


6 posted on 08/20/2025 8:09:47 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: oldplayer

“Wen said he believed that the weapons would be used for a surprise attack against South Korea, and also admitted that he had tried to buy uniforms to disguise North Korean soldiers, according to a criminal complaint filed in September. “

Sounds like the Norks were planning some kind of false flag attack, either in S. Korea as the man admitted, or somewhere else in the world where US made weapons used in an incident would raise a big stink against the US.


7 posted on 08/20/2025 8:12:10 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nickcarraway

I Shenghua my living room.


8 posted on 08/20/2025 8:20:53 PM PDT by rey
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To: nickcarraway

His handlers had also tasked him with acquiring and shipping uniforms.


9 posted on 08/20/2025 8:36:09 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: Ransomed

Apparently they specifically wanted equipment [and uniforms] that would trace back to the US or a US-allied country.


10 posted on 08/20/2025 8:39:01 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nickcarraway

Electrocute him.


11 posted on 08/20/2025 8:40:13 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: Karliner

The Norks are Russian allies. They could easily order wholesale from Russia, you mean. They are, after all, fighting the Ukrainians on behalf of Russia.

Obviously they were trying to set up an incident which would be blamed not on the Norks or Russians, but on some opponent, such as the US, S. Korea, Israel, or even the Ukes, but most likely us.

The Norks also trade with Hezbollah and Iran.


12 posted on 08/20/2025 8:43:36 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nickcarraway; Fedora

https://humanevents.com/2024/12/24/vanessa-battaglia-why-did-this-gun-store-disappear-from-houston-and-then-turn-up-on-the-black-market

Apparently the suspect, Wen, targeted an elderly Taiwanese man’s legal and popular gun store of many years in Houston, which catered to the Taiwanese expat community with Mandarin language NRA gun courses.

Wen purchased the store and used it and it’s good reputation as cover for his smuggling operation.


13 posted on 08/20/2025 9:05:42 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nickcarraway; Fedora

https://humanevents.com/2024/12/24/vanessa-battaglia-why-did-this-gun-store-disappear-from-houston-and-then-turn-up-on-the-black-market

Apparently the suspect, Wen, targeted an elderly Taiwanese man’s legal and popular gun store of many years in Houston, which catered to the Taiwanese expat community with Mandarin language NRA gun courses.

Wen purchased the store and used it and it’s good reputation as cover for his smuggling operation.

The store closed its doors in April 2023 and Web bought it. about the same time.


14 posted on 08/20/2025 9:06:53 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: piasa

The original owner was Arthur Kuo, also called Coach Kuo.


15 posted on 08/20/2025 9:09:43 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: oldplayer

“I heard about this the other day. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me on the face of it. North Korea makes warehouses full of whatever weapons they want. Why is this guy trying to sneak weapons INTO N.K.? There must be more to the story.”

Trying to start a revolution?


16 posted on 08/20/2025 9:18:48 PM PDT by Fai Mao (I used to care, but things have changed ~ Bob Dylan)
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To: piasa

That’s a lot of moving parts.

I wonder if this story will be buried like the Chinese lab in California or Thomas Crooks or James Paddock or USAID.

Don’t think we’ll get a real answer.


17 posted on 08/20/2025 9:44:06 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: Karliner
That Houston gun shop was originally opened in 2015 by two Asian-American law enforcement officers, at least according to the second owner Kuo:

From the Houston Chronicle [https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/houston-chinatown-gun-ownership-spikes-17862448.php]:

...In 2015, he [Kuo] witnessed a new type of gun shop open in Houston: one owned by two Asian American law enforcement officers that served mostly Asian American clientele. Kuo shopped at the store so frequently that when the owners decided to sell it a few months into owning it, they offered it to him. That’s when educating other Mandarin-speaking gun owners became his mission.... **** Didn't the Chinese have a consulate in Houston?

18 posted on 08/20/2025 10:09:58 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: piasa

Perplexing. I think we need to know more.


19 posted on 08/20/2025 10:16:47 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: nickcarraway
He told investigators that before he entered the US, he met with North Korean officials at an embassy in China, where they instructed him to procure goods for Pyongyang.

With the Chinese keeping social scores and using facial recognition and all, they were bound to notice and identify someone hiring an embassy in their country.

20 posted on 08/20/2025 10:20:06 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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