A former CIA analyst has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence service in exchange for luxury handbags and sushi dinners.
Sue Mi Terry, who also previously worked on the White House National Security Council, failed to register as a foreign agent with the US Justice Department, according to an indictment made public in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.
South Korean intelligence officers allegedly gave her Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton handbags, a Dolce & Gabbana coat, and dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Prosecutors say they also provided more than $37,000 in “covert” funding for a public policy program on Korean affairs that she ran.
Terry is alleged work to have worked as an agent for a decade from 2013, two years after she left US government employment.
She advocated South Korean policy positions during media appearances, shared non-public information with intelligence officers, and facilitated meetings between US and South Korean government officials, according to the indictment.
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She also admitted to the FBI that she served as a source of information for South Korean intelligence, including by passing handwritten notes from an off-the-record June 2022 meeting which included US secretary of state Antony Blinken, the indictment says.
Terry’s lawyer Lee Wolosky said in a statement that the “allegations are unfounded and distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States”.
He said she had not held a security clearance for more than a decade, adding: “In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf.
“Once the facts are made clear it will be evident the government made a significant mistake.”
Terry, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, served in the US government from 2001 to 2011, first as a CIA analyst and later as the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.
Prosecutors say Terry said she was not an “active registrant” on disclosure forms filed with the House of Representatives, where she testified at least three times between 2016 and 2022, but also never disclosed her covert work with South Korea, preventing Congress from having “the opportunity to fairly evaluate Terry’s testimony in light of her longstanding efforts” for the government.