A New Yorker and former CIA analyst worked as a South Korean spy for nearly a decade, according to court documents released Wednesday.
Sue Mi Terry, 54, was a regular at think tanks and other academic institutions in New York and Washington, D.C., writing opinion columns and appearing on TV programs to give her respected opinion on foreign relations with both North and South Korea.
But starting in at least 2013, Terry was actually an agent of the South Korean government, working to push its foreign policy agenda in the U.S., the Justice Department said Wednesday in an indictment.
According to the charging documents, Terry admitted to her work as a South Korean agent in a June 2023 interview with FBI agents.
“Terry allegedly sold out her positions and influence to the South Korean government in return for luxury handbags, expensive meals and thousands of dollars of funding for her public policy program,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
In exchange for information and various opportunities, Terry’s South Korean handlers bought her numerous expensive dinners, a $2,950 Bottega Veneta handbag, a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag and a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, according to the feds. In multiple cases, Terry went on shopping trips with her handlers and named her favorite items, investigators said.
Terry shared secret information with other South Korean agents and officials, including her notes from an off-the-record 2022 meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the Justice Department. Additionally, Terry routinely introduced South Korean spies to congressional staffers and pushed South Korean priorities in American media.
Along with the luxury items, Terry’s South Korean handlers deposited $37,000 in a think tank account she controlled, the feds said.
“These 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,” Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said in a statement. “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.”
Terry was a CIA analyst from 2001 to 2008 before moving to the National Intelligence Council and National Security Council. She left government work in 2011 and was employed by numerous think tanks in the ensuing decade.
She testified before Congress on North Korea three times between 2016 and 2022, according to investigators.
Terry was arrested on Tuesday and charged with one count of failing to register as a foreign agent and one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
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