A Chinese national has been sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling firearms and other military items to North Korea, the US justice department said, BBC reported.

Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2m (£1.5m) from North Korean officials to ship the items from California, according to a statement from the agency on Monday.

A resident of Ontario, California, Wen has been detained since December 2024. He pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and being an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Wen's case shines a light on the various ways in which North Korea circumvents international sanctions on its arms trade, according to BBC.