A California man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea that he said were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday.

Huang Chung-wei was sentenced to 28 months in prison by the district court in the southern port city of Kaohsiung on Tuesday. Five others also received prison terms.

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. 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 Chinese national will spend nearly 10 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle weapons and sensitive U.S. technology to North Korea and accepting million-dollar bribes.

Shenghua Wen, 42, was sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with the scheme that earned him $2 million from North Korean handlers.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister has again dismissed peace overtures from South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, declaring that Pyongyang will never see Seoul as a partner for diplomacy, according to state media.

South Korea and the United States began their annual large-scale joint military exercise on Monday to better cope with threats by nuclear-armed North Korea.

The modernization and arming of a North Korean destroyer with nuclear weapons is on schedule and is expected to progress to the next phase of trials in October, according to leader Kim Jong Un. Kim visited destroyer Choe Hyon’s (51) on Monday and was briefed by senior military leaders on the 5,