US says well-known South Korea expert was an agent for the country

A former top official at the National Security Council overseeing Korea policy and widely known figure in the foreign policy community has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent for South Korea after leaving the U.S. government.

In an indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors say Sue Mi Terry accepted gifts like luxury handbags from South Korean officials while sharing non-public U.S. government information with such officials, advocating for their policy positions and arranging contacts for them with U.S. officials.

The indictment includes photographs of Terry meeting with South Korean officials who prosecutors contend served as her “handlers” for that country’s National Intelligence Service, including photos of one agent shopping for a Louis Vuitton handbag with Terry in a Washington store and the two of them departing together, with the agent carrying it in a shopping bag.

Terry has played a prominent role in U.S. policy toward Korea for more than two decades, serving as a CIA analyst, as an NSC official overseeing Japan, Korea and Oceanic affairs during the Bush and Obama administrations, and later as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.

After leaving government in 2011, Terry held posts at a series of think tanks and was frequently quoted as an expert voice on U.S.-Korean relations by mainstream media outlets, including POLITICO, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

She currently works as a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a role she has held since March, according to her LinkedIn page. She previously held roles at the Wilson Center and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Terry’s attorney, Lee Wolosky, said in a statement that the allegations against Terry are “unfounded and distort 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 added. “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.”

Iva Zorić, a spokesperson for the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a statement that Terry has been placed on unpaid administrative leave “effective immediately” and that the organization will cooperate with any investigation.

The indictment is silent about Terry’s relationship with South Korea during the time she worked in top official positions in Washington, but contends she acted as a mouthpiece for that country after leaving government without making the disclosures required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Some of the gifts the indictment alleges Terry received from South Korean officials in recent years included a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants. Prosecutors also allege that South Korea provided $37,000 in covert funding for a public policy program that Terry “controlled” focusing on Korean affairs at an organization described as “Think Tank-3” in the indictment.

Terry faces two felony charges: conspiracy to violate FARA and failure to register under FARA. The indictment also specifically alleges that Terry repeatedly failed to disclose her ties to the South Korean government when she testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as an expert witness and completed a “Truth in Testimony” disclosure form.

Terry was born in Seoul but grew up in northern Virginia and Hawaii, according to the indictment. She obtained her undergraduate degree in international relations from New York University and later got her Ph.D. from Tufts University’s Fletcher School.

The indictment is just the latest signal that the Justice Department’s crackdown on illicit foreign influence campaigns isn’t letting up despite a checkered record in court.

Just hours before Terry’s indictment was unsealed, a Manhattan jury convicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) of acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. He was the first sitting lawmaker to face such charges, but several months after he was charged, DOJ charged a second member of Congress, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), with illegally acting as an agent of Azerbaijan.

But the department has faced a string of legal defeats in high-profile foreign agent cases , including in June when a federal appeals court in Washington upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to force casino magnate and GOP mega donor Steve Wynn to register under FARA.

That’s in part why the Menendez conviction is “a big deal,” Brandon Van Grack, the former head of DOJ’s FARA Unit, argued prior to the news of Terry’s indictment. “This confirms DOJ isn’t going to slow down its enforcement of FARA and related foreign agent laws.”

The Justice Department is also expected any day now to propose its first substantive updates to FARA regulations in nearly three decades, a rulemaking that has been closely watched by FARA practitioners eager to have more clarity about how the Justice Department views the World War II-era statute in the age of social media.