Former CIA Analyst Charged With Acting as Unregistered Agent for South Korea

The South Korean flag at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 7, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A former CIA analyst has been charged with working as an unregistered agent for South Korea’s intelligence service in exchange for luxury gifts, dinners, and funding, according to a newly unsealed indictment filed on July 15 in the U.S. Southern District of New York.

Sue Mi Terry faces one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and one count of failure to register under the FARA, which is aimed at preventing covert foreign influence by foreign principles.

For more than a decade, Ms. Terry “worked as an agent of the Government of the Republic of Korea (‘ROK’), also known as South Korea,” and at the direction of its government officials, she “advocated ROK policy positions, including in published articles and during media appearances, disclosed nonpublic U.S. government information to ROK intelligence officers, and facilitated access for ROK government officials to U.S. government officials,” the indictment states.

In return, intelligence officers with South Korea’s government gave Ms. Terry “luxury goods,” including a $2,845 Dolce and Gabbana coat and a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, among other things, according to the indictment.

They also provided her with “high-priced dinners” at Michelin-star restaurants along with more than $37,000 in “covert funding for a public program focusing on Korean affairs” that she controlled, the indictment states.

Ms. Terry is a foreign policy specialist who once worked on the White House National Security Council overseeing “Korean policy,” according to the indictment.

Her alleged work as an agent began in 2013, two years after she left U.S. government employment and began working at think tanks, the indictment states.

‘Valuable Source’ for South Korea

Ms. Terry admitted during a voluntary June 2023 interview with the FBI that she was a “valuable source” of information for South Korea’s intelligence service.

In June 2022, she attended an “off-the-record” meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about U.S. government policy toward North Korea, the indictment states. Immediately after the meeting, she met a “point of contact,” or “handler” from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, and passed him detailed handwritten notes about the meeting, according to the indictment.

Despite allegedly engaging in extensive activities for and at the direction of the South Korean government, Ms. Terry never registered as a foreign agent with the attorney general, as required under U.S. law.

On at least three occasions between 2016 and 2022, while testifying to the House of Representatives regarding the U.S. government’s Korean policy, Ms. Terry stated on disclosure forms that she was not an “active registrant,” according to the indictment.

However, Ms. Terry was acting as an agent of the ROK without having registered, the indictment states.

As a result, Congress was prevented from having “the opportunity to fairly evaluate Terry’s testimony in light of her longstanding efforts” for the ROK government, the indictment states.

Allegations ‘Unfounded’

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Ms. Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said 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.”

Mr. Wolosky said his client has not held a security clearance for more than a decade and that her views have been consistent.

“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,” he said.

Ms. Terry is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Virginia and Hawaii.

According to her official biography, she worked as a senior analyst on Korean issues at the CIA from 2001 to 2008 and as a director for Korea, Japan, and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2008 to 2009.

From 2009 to 2010, she served as the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.

Since leaving the government in 2011, she has served as the national intelligence fellow in the David Rockefeller Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

In that role, Ms. Terry examined “North Korean leadership succession plans, Pyongyang’s evolving nuclear strategy, and the potential for instability in North Korea,” according to her official biography.

The Epoch Times contacted a spokesperson for the Council on Foreign Relations for comment but did not hear back by press time.

The indictment against Ms. Terry was issued after President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on July 11 vowed to deepen their alliance as part of efforts to respond to the growing nuclear threat from North Korea.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the annual NATO summit in Washington, the two leaders signed guidelines for maintaining an effective nuclear deterrence policy and posture on the Korean peninsula, the first time that the United States and South Korea have signed such guidelines.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.