This is part 1 of a series.

A Chinese illegal immigrant was arrested on 3 December for allegedly procuring and sending US arms and export-controlled technology to North Korea. The 20-page criminal complaint provides a remarkable account based on multiple federal interrogations. A summary:

Shenghua Wen, a Chinese foreign national, has been living in California illegally since the expiration of his 1-year student visa in 2013.

Wen communicated with North Korean contacts before and after leaving China for the US, and received $2M in funding from the contacts for his services. Wen worked with multiple people including “Individual 1,” whose US bank account was used to receive the funding.

Wen bought a federally-licensed gun store in Texas (Super Armory) with $150,000 of the funding in May 2023 “to procure weapons for North Korea.” Individual 1’s identity was used for the Texas business registration paperwork, without Individual 1’s knowledge according to Wen. But Wen had others buy the guns he shipped because “he knew that if he attempted to purchase firearms, the firearms stores would contact the ATF.”

Wen successfully shipped “firearms and other items” to North Korea in October and December 2023 through Hong Kong, China; in one instance, the shipment was falsely labeled by Wen as a refrigerator. These shipments were coordinated with a China-based broker through messages on Telegram.

At the time that Wen was questioned in August-September 2024, he was in possession of a spectrometer and a chemical threat detection device that he admitted he intended to send to North Korea; these items and 50,000 rounds of ammunition were seized from Wen’s premises by law enforcement. Wen noted that North Korea had also requested a civilian plane engine and US military uniforms. It’s a complex and concerning story. Wen’s testimony, along with a paper-and-digital trail of receipts, leaves little room for doubt. The multi-agency investigation should connect these peculiar dots; in the meantime, two questions loom.

First, the context-specific question: is this arms-dealing plot related to South Korea’s recently-invoked martial law? Justice officials say it is not, for whatever that is worth. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stunned the world with his late-night call for martial law “to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces...” -- on 3 December, the same day Wen was taken into custody in California. But Yoon went on to speak about pro-North Korean influence infiltrating the Democratic Party, an ongoing issue and debate in South Korea. The Democrat-majority National Assembly voted to lift the martial law just hours later, with bi-partisan support and apologies from Yoon’s own People Power Party; casting Yoon’s move in a General Ripper-esque light.

The gun-smuggling might not be directly related to the martial law; but all is not rosy in South Korea’s garden. The details – the 11:00pm emergency call, the first in nearly 40 years; specifically against North Korea, coincident with Wen’s arrest – add gravitas to this arms-dealing story which might otherwise sound like a bizarre one-off.

Second, the evergreen question: was this a lone-wolf Chinese foreign national who was running around the interior of this country, ferrying guns onto ships, on and off the phone with North Korea; or was the CCP involved? The CCP has proven to be adversely involved with Chinese citizens abroad in many ways.

Consider Chinese immigrant Yuanjun Tang, who was arrested for spying on US citizens for the CCP. Tang claims he is a pro-democracy dissident who was threatened and coerced by the CCP in exchange for the ability to visit family back in China. This story illuminates the possibility that the CCP is weaponizing the Chinese diaspora by demanding anti-American activities as a quid pro quo, or to punish them for being pro-democracy ex-patriots. Or, Tang is a lying spy. The options are not good – either way, the CCP is involved.

Back to the North Korea gun-running Wen. The CCP is likely to at least be aware of his actions, as he shipped the weapons through Hong Kong. Wen also had a coordination contact there confirming the contents, arrival, and departure of the deliveries. This much shipping logistics activity, within a country whose government is obsessed with surveillance and intelligence, would be hard to hide.

And the CCP may well have more-than-known, as it freely meddles in the lives of emigrants, according to potential federal inmate Tang. But it’s hard to tell so far what involvement the CCP might have had in this matter based just on the criminal complaint.

Unless you look closely at one detail sandwiched in the middle of the story: why did Shenghua Wen buy a gun store in Texas?

The mysterious details surrounding an arguably unnecessary plot twist will be revealed in part 2 of this series.