U.S. Accuses Former C.I.A. Analyst of Working for South Korea
Sue Mi Terry, a North Korea expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, was charged with acting as an agent for Seoul after leaving the intelligence agency.
Sue Mi Terry began operating as a foreign agent in June 2013, according to the indictment.Credit...Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for ABA
By Claire Fahy, Jesse McKinley and Benjamin Weiser
July 16, 2024
Sue Mi Terry, a prominent voice on American foreign policy, had a refined palate, a love for top-shelf sushi and a taste for designer labels. She liked coats by Christian Dior, handbags by Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton, and Michelin-starred restaurants.
And, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, she accepted such luxury goods and other gifts in exchange for serving the South Korean government in Seoul.
Ms. Terry, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, is accused in a 31-page indictment released Tuesday of a yearslong effort to assist South Korean spies. The indictment says she even introduced the spies to congressional staff members, an action that she described as “bringing the wolf in.”
The charges, which were brought by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, were part of a concerted push by the Justice Department to combat foreign influence in American affairs, which has produced dozens of prosecutions in recent years. Such cases have been set off by illegal campaign contributions from overseas, covert influence operations and even the bribing of Senator Robert Menendez, for which he was convicted Tuesday.
In Ms. Terry’s case, prosecutors say she began operating as a foreign agent in 2013, five years after leaving the C.I.A. She was first contacted by an intelligence officer posing as a diplomat for the Korean mission to the United Nations in New York City, the indictment said, and in return for her work over the next decade, Ms. Terry received handbags, clothing and at least $37,000 in covert payments to the think tank where she was employed at the time.
“Despite engaging in extensive activities for and at the direction of” the South Korean government, Ms. Terry did not register as a foreign agent with American officials, as required by law, prosecutors said. She faces two counts, one for failing to register under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, and the other for conspiring to violate it.
In a statement, Lee Wolosky, Ms. Terry’s lawyer, said that the allegations were unfounded and distorted “the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States.”
“Dr. Terry has not held a security clearance for over a decade, and her views on matters relating to the Korean Peninsula have been consistent over many years,” Mr. Wolosky said. “In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf.”
He added, “Once the facts are made clear, it will be evident the government made a significant mistake.”
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District, said in a statement that Ms. Terry had “sold out her positions and influence” for personal gain.
“The charges brought should send a clear message to those in public policy who may be tempted to sell their expertise to a foreign government to think twice and ensure you are in accordance with the law,” the statement read.
Considered an expert on North Korea and broader security issues in the region, Ms. Terry has worked not only at the C.I.A., but at the National Intelligence Council and the National Security Council, places where she produced “hundreds of intelligence assessments,” according to her biography on the Council on Foreign Relations website.
According to the indictment, federal agents had suspicions regarding Ms. Terry’s contact with Seoul as early as November 2014, when the F.B.I. called her in for a voluntary interview.
As she was questioned, Ms. Terry became “visibly nervous, changed her speech pattern and began to stutter and shift in her seat,” the indictment said. Over the ensuing years, agents would track Ms. Terry to numerous restaurants and luxury stores in Washington, D.C., providing photos of her dining with her handlers and standing next to them at cash registers as they bought her expensive goods. Several were included in court papers Tuesday.
In an interview with the F.B.I. in June 2023, Ms. Terry, who was born in Seoul but raised in the United States, admitted that she had resigned from the C.I.A. in 2008 rather than be fired because the agency had “problems” with her contacts with members of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the indictment said.
But her national-security work was only prelude to more wrongdoing after she left the government, according to prosecutors, including disclosing “nonpublic U.S. government information” to intelligence officers working for South Korea. The indictment says that Ms. Terry handed over handwritten notes of a private group meeting in 2022 regarding the U.S. government’s policy toward North Korea that she attended with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
During this period, the indictment said, Ms. Terry worked for several well-known think tanks in Washington.
Ms. Terry’s activity on behalf of South Korea started small and became more ambitious as she worked with three different handlers, the indictment said. At first, she mainly published opinion articles favorable to South Korea’s stance on North Korea, but soon she was facilitating meetings between incoming Trump administration officials and South Korean intelligence agents in 2016. By 2018, Ms. Terry was hosting meetings at a think tank at the request of her South Korean handlers, giving them access to U.S. national security officials, the indictment said.
Ms. Terry made media appearances and wrote articles in American and South Korean publications reflecting Seoul’s policy priorities, the indictment said, including an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2014. She also co-wrote a piece with her husband, Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist, about the improving relationship between South Korea and Japan.
On three occasions, Ms. Terry testified before Congress about North Korea, which required her to sign a form before each hearing declaring that she was not a registered foreign agent.
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In April 2023, Ms. Terry hosted an event at a think tank where she invited congressional staff members and worked to study South Korea’s alliance with the United States at the request of the South Korean National Intelligence Service. Ms. Terry then invited the staff members to a happy hour where South Korean intelligence officers were present, allowing the officers to “spot and assess” potential recruits, according to the indictment.
As her work became more risky, her rewards were greater, prosecutors said. Her payment started with a $2,950 Bottega Veneta bag and ballooned to lump sums of $11,000 and then $25,000, paid to Ms. Terry’s gift account at the think tank where she worked, over which she had sole discretion, they said.
During lavish dinners at primarily Michelin-starred sushi restaurants, followed by drinks at rooftop bars, Ms. Terry’s handler would feed her lines she would then parrot in media appearances in the form of policy recommendations regarding U.S.-South Korea relations, the indictment said.
Iva Zorić, a spokeswoman for the Council on Foreign Relations, said the organization had learned of the indictment on Tuesday and placed Ms. Terry on unpaid administrative leave. She added that the council would cooperate with any investigation.
Claire Fahy reports on New York City and the surrounding area for The Times. She can be reached at claire.fahy@nytimes.com. More about Claire Fahy
Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley
Benjamin Weiser is a Times reporter covering the federal courts and U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, and the justice system more broadly. More about Benjamin Weiser
A version of this article appears in print on July 18, 2024, Section A, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Charges a Former C.I.A. Analyst With Helping South Korean Spies. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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