Former CIA analyst Sue Mi Terry indicted on charges of secretly working for South Korea

By Michael Mitsanas, Audry Jeong and Yoonjung Seo, CNN

(CNN) — A prominent North Korea expert and former CIA analyst has been indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of secretly working for the South Korean government in exchange for designer goods, Michelin star meals and $37,000 for a fund that she controlled.

Sue Mi Terry, who was once a member of the US National Security Council, first acted as a foreign agent in June 2013 as she began meeting with an unnamed “handler” on “multiple occasions,” according to the indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday.

“At the direction of ROK (Republic of Korea) government officials, Terry advocated ROK policy positions, including in published articles and during media appearances, disclosed nonpublic US government information to ROK intelligence officers, and facilitated access for ROK government officials to US government officials,” the indictment alleges.

In return, South Korean officials allegedly offered the former analyst around $37,000, claiming they could conceal the origin of the funds by depositing them into a designated “gift” account at the think tank where she worked, according to the indictment.

Terry also allegedly received lavish goods – including a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat and dinners at Michelin star restaurants – and she was paid to write opinion articles that advocated South Korean policy positions in American and Korean media outlets, the filing claims.

Iva Zorić, a spokesperson for the Council on Foreign Relations think tank that employed Terry, said the senior fellow was placed on administrative leave immediately after it learned of the indictment.

“We take these allegations very seriously,” Zorić told CNN.

The indictment alleges Terry acted as a “valuable source” of information for the South Korean government.

In one instance, Terry had participated in an off-the-record North Korea policy briefing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2022. As soon as the meeting ended, she passed her handler “detailed handwritten notes” that described the contents of the closed-door briefing, the indictment alleges.

In a statement, a spokesperson for South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said, “the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are in close communication regarding the indictment related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

Separately, a spokesperson for Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “it is not appropriate to comment on a matter pending in foreign judicial proceedings.”

US law obligates American citizens to register as foreign agents if they engage in certain behaviors for or on behalf of a foreign government. The indictment alleges that Terry was acting as a foreign agent but did not register as required, which is a crime.

In a statement, Lee Wolosky, Terry’s attorney, said the allegations against his client are “unfounded,” adding that Terry was a “harsh critic” of the South Korean government during the period she was allegedly acting on its behalf.

“Once the facts are made clear it will be evident the (US) government made a significant mistake,” Wolosky said.

Terry, born in Seoul and a naturalized US citizen, began working for the US government in 2001. She served as a high-profile analyst on East Asian issues for the CIA before pre-emptively resigning in 2008 due to a conflict of interest regarding her relationship with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, as recorded in an FBI interview in June 2023. She later served as the director for Japan, Korea, and Oceanic affairs for the National Security Council under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

In June 2013, five years after leaving the CIA, Terry began operating as a foreign diplomat under the UN reporting to some of the highest-ranking officials serving South Korea, further deepening ties with them.

No stranger to the media, Terry has been featured in multiple outlets, including appearances on CNN. She has authored reports for both American and South Korean news outlets. Terry had previously told Congress under oath that she had not acted as a foreign agent while testifying before a House hearing regarding North Korea’s escalation of nuclear activity.

South Korea is a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific, though Terry’s indictment is not the first case of alleged collusion to test the two countries’ friendship. Internal Pentagon documents leaked last year described, in remarkable detail, private conversations between two senior South Korean national security officials, whom the US had allegedly wiretapped.

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CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed reporting.