Overview

• Wen entered the US on a student visa in 2012 and overstayed after it expired in 2013, remaining illegally in California until his December arrest
• According to prosecutors, he met North Korean officials at their embassy in China who directed him to procure firearms, ammunition and sensitive military devices
• In 2023 he arranged at least three container shipments from the Port of Long Beach to Nampo via Hong Kong, hiding weapons by filing false export paperwork
• He admitted receiving about $2 million from Pyongyang contacts to buy a Houston gun shop, secure 60,000 rounds of ammunition and obtain technology such as a chemical threat identifier
• Pleading guilty to conspiracy under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and acting as an illegal foreign agent, he faces up to 30 years in prison with sentencing on August 18, 2025