U.S. Accuses Former C.I.A. Analyst of Working for South Korea

An influential expert on North Korea and a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency was indicted on charges that she had acted as an agent for the South Korean government in exchange for upscale dinners and designer handbags, federal prosecutors in New York announced Tuesday.

The expert, Sue Mi Terry, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, began operating as a foreign agent in June 2013, five years after leaving the C.I.A., according to the indictment.

She was first contacted by a handler posing as a minister for the Korean mission to the United Nations in New York City. In return for her work over the next decade, Ms. Terry received Louis Vuitton handbags and a $3,000 Dolce and Gabbana coat, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and at least $37,000 in covert payments.

As part of her work on behalf of South Korea, Ms. Terry made a number of media appearances and wrote articles in American 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 three times about North Korea, which required her to sign a form before each hearing declaring that she was not a registered foreign agent.

Ms. Terry started working for the U.S. government in 2001, when she became an East Asia analyst for the C.I.A., according to her LinkedIn profile. She eventually became the director for Japan, Korea and Oceanic affairs for the National Security Council under the Obama administration. She then served as the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia before leaving government service to work for think tanks in 2010.

In an interview with the F.B.I. in June 2023, Ms. Terry admitted that she had resigned from the C.I.A. 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.

Ms. Terry is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Seoul who grew up in Hawaii and Virginia, according to the indictment. She attended Tufts University in Boston, eventually earning a Ph.D. in international relations.