Ex-CIA analyst accused of spying in exchange for handbags, Michelin-star sushi

New York: Sue Mi Terry, a prominent voice on US foreign policy, had a refined palate, a love for top-shelf sushi and a taste for designer labels. She liked coats by Christian Dior, handbags by Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton, and Michelin-starred restaurants.

And, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, she accepted such luxury goods and other gifts in exchange for serving the South Korean government in Seoul.

Sue Mi Terry had a refined palate, a love for top-shelf sushi and a taste for designer labels.Credit: Getty Images for ABA

Terry, a former CIA analyst and a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, is accused in a 31-page indictment of a yearslong effort to assist South Korean spies. The indictment says she even introduced the spies to congressional staff members, an action that she described as “bringing the wolf in”.

The charges, which were brought by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, were part of a concerted push by the Justice Department to combat foreign influence in US affairs, which has produced dozens of prosecutions in recent years.

In Terry’s case, prosecutors say she began operating as a foreign agent in 2013, five years after leaving the CIA. She was first contacted by an intelligence officer posing as a diplomat for the Korean mission to the United Nations in New York City, the indictment said, and in return for her work over the next decade, Terry received handbags, clothing and at least $US37,000 ($55,000) in covert payments to the think tank where she was employed at the time.

“Despite engaging in extensive activities for and at the direction of” the South Korean government, Terry did not register as a foreign agent with US officials, as required by law, prosecutors said. She faces two counts, one for failing to register under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, and the other for conspiring to violate it.

As her work became more risky, her rewards were greater, prosecutors said, allegedly starting with a $US2950 Bottega Veneta bag.

In a statement, Lee Wolosky, Terry’s lawyer, said the allegations were unfounded and distorted “the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States”.

“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,” Wolosky said. “In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf.”

He added, “Once the facts are made clear, it will be evident the government made a significant mistake.”

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the Southern District, declined to comment. The South Korean Embassy did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Considered an expert on North Korea and broader security issues in the region, Terry has worked not only at the CIA, but at the American National Intelligence Council and National Security Council, places where she produced “hundreds of intelligence assessments,” according to her biography on the Council on Foreign Relations website.

According to the indictment, federal agents had suspicions regarding Terry’s contact with South Korea as early as November 2014, when the FBI called her in for a voluntary interview.

As she was questioned, Terry became “visibly nervous, changed her speech pattern and began to stutter and shift in her seat,” the indictment said. Over the ensuing years, agents would track Terry to numerous restaurants and luxury stores in Washington, providing photos of her dining with her handlers and standing next to them at cash registers as they bought her expensive goods. Several were included in court papers Tuesday.

In an interview with the FBI in June 2023, Terry, who was born in Seoul but raised in the United States, admitted that she had resigned from the CIA in 2008 rather than be fired because the agency had “problems” with her contacts with members of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the indictment said.

But her national security work was only prelude to more wrongdoing after she left the government, according to prosecutors, including disclosing “non-public US government information” to intelligence officers working for South Korea. The indictment says Terry handed over handwritten notes of a private group meeting in 2022 regarding the US government’s policy toward North Korea that she attended with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Terry’s activity on behalf of South Korea started small and became more ambitious as she worked with three different handlers, the indictment said. At first, she mainly published opinion articles favourable to South Korea’s stance on North Korea, but soon she was facilitating meetings between incoming Trump administration officials and South Korean intelligence agents in 2016. By 2018, Terry was hosting meetings at a think tank at the request of her South Korean handlers, giving them access to US national security officials, the indictment said.

Terry made media appearances and wrote articles in US and South Korean publications reflecting Seoul’s policy priorities, the indictment said, including an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2014. She also testified before Congress about North Korea, which required her to sign a form before each hearing declaring that she was not a registered foreign agent.

As her work became more risky, her rewards were greater, prosecutors said. Her payment started with a $US2950 Bottega Veneta bag and ballooned to lump sums of $US11,000 and then $US25,000, paid to Terry’s gift account at the think tank where she worked, over which she had sole discretion, they said.

During lavish dinners at primarily Michelin-starred sushi restaurants, followed by drinks at rooftop bars, Terry’s handler would feed her lines she would then parrot in media appearances in the form of policy recommendations regarding US-South Korea relations, the indictment said.

Iva Zorić, a spokesperson for the Council on Foreign Relations, said the organisation had learned of the indictment Tuesday and placed Terry on unpaid administrative leave. She added that the council would co-operate with any investigation.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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