A New York grand jury has indicted a former US Central Intelligence Company analyst on fees of performing as a spy for the South Korean authorities in alternate for luxurious items, luggage and fancy meals.
Sue Mi Terry, who beforehand labored as a senior official for the White Home Nationwide Safety Council, faces two counts of failing to register as a international agent and conspiracy to violate the Overseas Brokers Registration Act.
Federal officers say Ms Terry – a outstanding US skilled on North Korea – acted as an agent for the South Korean authorities for over a decade, however she didn’t register as a international agent with American officers, in response to court docket paperwork made public on Tuesday within the Southern District of New York.
The Council on Overseas Relations, a suppose tank the place Ms Terry works as a senior fellow on Asia, has positioned her on unpaid depart, a spokesperson instructed US shops. The organisation has additionally eliminated her biography from its web site.
Ms Terry, 54, denies the costs and her legal professional, Lee Wolosky, instructed the BBC the allegations towards her have been “unfounded”.
The costs “distort the work of a scholar and information analyst identified for her independence and years of service to the USA”, Mr Wolosky mentioned. “In actual fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean authorities throughout occasions this indictment alleges that she was performing on its behalf.”
Born in South Korea, Ms Terry moved to the US at age 12, in response to her earlier employer at Columbia College.
In 2001, she earned her doctorate from the Fletcher Faculty of Legislation and Diplomacy at Tufts College, a outstanding worldwide relations faculty in Massachusetts. She is thought to lecture in English and Korean.
Ms Terry, 54, then went on to work as a senior analyst for the CIA from 2001 to 2008, earlier than holding quite a lot of posts within the federal authorities, together with as Director for Korea, Japan, and Oceanic Affairs on the Nationwide Safety Council in the course of the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
Prosecutors say Ms Terry’s work as an agent for the South Korean authorities started in 2013, about 5 years, after she stopped working for the CIA and the Nationwide Safety Council.
Within the 31-page indictment, officers say Ms Terry admitted to FBI brokers in a voluntary interview in 2023 that she was a “supply” for South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service.
The indictment alleges that the South Korean authorities gifted Ms Terry a $2,845 (£2,100) Dolce & Gabbana coat, a $3,450 Louis Vuitton purse and meals at upscale eating places.
Officers say the federal government additionally gave her $37,000 and got here up with a plan to cover the supply of the funds, finally putting them in a present fund on the suppose tank the place she labored.
Ms Terry’s indictment comes only a day after Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was convicted of serving to international governments in alternate for luxurious objects together with gold bars and a Mercedes automotive.
