Ex-CIA official doubled as secret South Korea agent in exchange for designer handbags, high-end sushi dinners: feds

A former CIA analyst with expensive taste spent more than a decade working as a secret South Korean agent in exchange for luxury handbags, designer duds and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants, among other splurges, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Sue Mi Terry, 54, a native of Seoul who now lives in Manhattan, used her position as a respected foreign policy expert and traded her access to top US officials for goodies including a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat and high-end sushi dinners, according to court documents.

Terry, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, allegedly began spying for South Korea in October 2013, five years after she left the CIA, where she was an analyst on East Asian issues.

Over the next nearly 10 years, she “disclosed sensitive US government information to South Korean intelligence and used her position to influence US policy in favor of South Korea” — all for “money and luxury gifts,” FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis said in a statement.

For instance, Terry delivered handwritten notes about a private North Korea-related June 2022 meeting with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to her South Korean intelligence handler who picked her up in a car minutes later, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.

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Weeks after that, Terry hosted a happy hour – at her handlers’ behest – where she allowed the South Korean spy to mingle with congressional staffers while posing as a diplomat, the filing charges.

Presenting herself as an independent expert on US-Korea relations, Terry has also allegedly parroted talking points provided to her by South Korean officials in articles published in the US and Korean press in recent years.

In exchange, Terry’s handlers took her on shopping sprees – pictured in court papers – in which she picked out “gifts” of a $2,950 Bottega Veneta handbag and a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, the indictment alleges.

The South Korean officials also cozied up to Terry by buying her dinner at upscale seafood, sushi and Greek restaurants in Manhattan and Washington DC, including several hotspots with Michelin stars, court papers state.

A South Korean spy also bought Terry the Dolce & Gabbana coat from a Chevy Chase, Maryland store in November 2019, charging it to his credit card and not paying sales tax because he had “diplomatic status,” prosecutors alleged.

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But the gaudy outfit was not to Terry’s liking, and she ended up returning the frock days later for a $4,100 Christian Dior coat and paying the difference, the indictment alleges.

The intelligence officers also funneled also more than $37,000 to a public policy program on Korean affairs that Terry was running, the court papers state.

The feds say Terry never registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department — and had been warned by FBI agents in 2014 that she could be a target for illegal foreign influence, according to the indictment.

Terry was “visibly nervous” in the voluntary interview she gave to the feds and eventually admitted to having met with her South Korean handler after initially claiming she did not know his name, the feds alleged.

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Terry served from 2001 to 2011 in a range of US government positions, including as a CIA analyst and as Director for Korea, Japan, and Oceanic Affairs for the White House National Security Council, the feds say.

Court records show that Terry was released after posting a $500,000 bond at her initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.

She faces up to five years in prison if convicted on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, and conspiring to act as a foreign agent.

Efforts to reach her were unsuccessful on Wednesday, but her attorney Lee Wolosky said in a statement that 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.”

The Council on Foreign Relations has placed Terry on unpaid administrative leave, and will cooperate with the feds, a spokeswoman said.

The Washington Post reported that Terry has contributed to that paper’s opinion section online and is married to Washington Post columnist Max Boot.

With Post wires

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