A foreign policy specialist who once worked for the CIA and on the White House National Security Council (NSC) has been indicted on US charges she worked as an unregistered agent of South Korea’s government in exchange for luxury goods and other gifts.
Sue Mi Terry advocated South Korean policy positions, disclosed nonpublic US government information to South Korean intelligence officers, and facilitated access for South Korean government officials to their US counterparts, according to a public indictment on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.
In return, the South Korean intelligence officers allegedly provided Terry with Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton handbags, a Dolce & Gabbana coat, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants, and more than $37,000 in “covert” funding for a public policy program on Korean affairs that she ran.
The indictment contains surveillance camera images of Terry awaiting or carrying a gift bag while the officers pay at Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton stores in Washington in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Terry’s alleged work as an agent began in 2013, two years after she left US government employment, and lasted a decade even after FBI agents warned her in 2014 that South Korean intelligence might try to offer (to) covertly pay for events.
According to the think tank’s website, she is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on East Asia and the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea.
Terry did not immediately respond to a request for comment but her lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said in a statement: “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.”
