1 Taiwanese involved in smuggling US arms to North Korea. Japanese media revealed that the Hong Kong people led the Taiwanese shipowners in the matter.

On the 2nd, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, quoting several people familiar with the matter, revealed that a person namedhong kong An international smuggling group with a stronghold that is suspected of smuggling guns and other weapons from the United States through Hong Kongnorth korea A Taiwanese man, surnamed Wang, was also involved in the smuggling activities and served as the de facto owner of the cargo involved. The smuggling operation in Hong Kong was led by a man named Kai. He took advantage of the return of North Korean diplomats and hid the weapons in refrigerators and kitchen supplies, and mixed them into the diplomats’ sea luggage in an attempt to avoid customs inspection. It is noteworthy that this smuggling group is still operating on four cargo ships. Recently, in addition to transportation,united nations It bans the export of steel products to North Korea and may also allow smuggling of oil into North Korea.

This smuggling case was highlighted in the United States in December 2024, when US law enforcement officials arrested a Chinese man on suspicion of arms smuggling to North Korea, accusing him of hiding guns, ammunition and other military supplies in containers departing from the port of Long Beach, California, and transporting them to North Korea via Hong Kong. Now Yomiuri Shimbun investigated further and found that a Hong Kong-based smuggling group is behind the case, including a Taiwanese man who actually holds the cargo.

According to the US Justice Department, Shenghua Wen, a Chinese man arrested in the United States, purchased weapons in the United States and arranged for their delivery to North Korea at the direction of North Korean officials. In December 2023, they misreported a batch of weapons as “refrigerators” and shipped them by sea from the port of Long Beach, California. They arrived in Hong Kong in January 2024, and were then transferred to Nampo Port, North Korea. Wen Shenghua pleaded guilty in June 2025 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison in August of the same year.

As for the smuggling operation in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter said that the leader is a Hong Kong man named Kai, who is the actual operator of “Yu Ling Trading Co., Ltd.”, the company responsible for receiving goods sent from the United States. Following the closure of the North Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong in 2023, a man surnamed Kai also ran a business transporting the luggage of returning diplomats. They took this opportunity to load weapons coming to Hong Kong from the United States onto the pre-arranged cargo ship “Sun Rich (transliteration)”, on which the flag of the Lion Rock Republic was flying at that time.

The smuggling group declared the weapons to be “refrigerators” and “kitchen supplies”. Since Hong Kong is a free trade port with a constant flow of goods, the import and export processes are relatively simple. The smuggling group also calculated that Customs would not inspect the diplomats’ luggage in detail, so they adopted this disguise. It is said that the North Korean diplomats involved were completely unaware of the entire smuggling operation.

In addition to the man surnamed Kai, people familiar with the matter said that this smuggling case also involves a Taiwanese man surnamed Wang, who is the actual owner of the cargo ship “Sun Rich” involved; Another Chinese man surnamed Liang is the actual operator of “Tianma Shipping Co., Ltd.” Who is responsible for ship operations. The report did not provide further details on how the two were involved in arms smuggling.

This smuggling group is still operating on four cargo ships. Steel products banned from being exported to North Korea by UN Security Council resolutions have been frequently sent there recently, and there may also be plans to smuggle oil from Malaysia to North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter.

Yomiuri pointed out that in recent years there have been major shortcomings in the international community’s monitoring mechanism over North Korea’s smuggling activities. The UN Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee’s Expert Group, which was originally responsible for monitoring the implementation of sanctions against North Korea by various countries, has been forced to cease operations at the end of April 2024 due to Russia’s veto on a draft resolution to extend its term.

Katsuhisa Furukawa, a former member of the UN North Korea Sanctions Expert Group, compared US criminal prosecution records and several materials provided to the Yomiuri Shimbun by people familiar with the case. He believes that the statements of the people concerned have a reasonable basis and are acceptable.

The investigation also found that the cargo ship in question had changed its name and registration several times in the past and had repeatedly displayed abnormal behavior during its voyage. For example, after a cargo ship leaves Hong Kong and enters the waters surrounding the Yellow Sea, the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) will be turned off, making it difficult for the outside world to discern the ship’s movements.

Furukawa reported that cargo ships almost never arrived at pre-announced destination ports such as South Korea. Therefore, “it can only be concluded that the ship has secretly stopped at North Korean ports several times.” He stressed that all UN member states, including China, should take asset freezing measures such as ship seizure in accordance with Security Council resolutions.