Former CIA analyst charged with being South Korea’s ‘secret agent’ | News

Indictment says Sue Mi Terry acquired luxurious purses and dinners at Michelin-starred eating places in trade.

United States prosecutors have charged a former worker of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA) for allegedly working for South Korea in trade for luxurious presents, in response to the US Division of Justice.

Sue Mi Terry, who labored for the US authorities from 2001 to 2011, handed on confidential data to South Korea’s authorities and lobbied on its behalf, in response to the indictment filed on Monday in a New York federal courtroom.

She allegedly started the “undercover agent” function in 2013, two years after she left US authorities employment, and continued it for a decade.

In trade, Terry was handled to meals at Michelin-starred eating places and purses and different objects value hundreds of {dollars}, the indictment stated. Her South Korean handlers secretly despatched $37,000 to a suppose tank the place she labored for a public coverage programme on Korea, in response to the costs.

The indictment featured safety digital camera images of Terry assembly South Korean officers in Washington, DC, to be gifted objects from high-end shops. It stated these allegedly included a $3,450 Louis Vuitton purse, a $2,950 Bottega Veneta purse, a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, in addition to different objects.

The 31-page indictment stated she admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that she served as a supply of data for South Korean intelligence, which included passing handwritten notes from an off-the-record June 2022 assembly she was at with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about authorities coverage on North Korea.

The indictment expenses Terry with failing to register beneath the Overseas Brokers Registration Act and conspiring to violate that legislation.

“Regardless of participating in intensive actions for and on the route of South Korea’s authorities, Terry did not register as a overseas agent with the Justice Division as required,” the prosecutors stated.

‘Unfounded allegations’

Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, denied the costs, saying they had been “unfounded” and “distort” the work she did as an impartial scholar and analyst.

“The truth is, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean authorities throughout instances this indictment alleges that she was performing on its behalf,” stated Wolosky. “As soon as the details are made clear it will likely be evident the federal government made a big mistake.”

South Korea’s spy company, the Nationwide Intelligence Service, stated it was in touch with its US counterpart concerning the indictment.

In accordance with the indictment, Terry is a naturalised US citizen who was born within the South Korean capital, Seoul, and raised in Virginia and Hawaii.

In her time in authorities, Terry additionally labored because the deputy nationwide intelligence officer for East Asia on the Nationwide Intelligence Council, earlier than shifting on to suppose tanks, together with the Council on Overseas Relations.

The Council on Overseas Relations put Terry on unpaid administrative depart, and can cooperate with any investigation, a spokesperson instructed the Reuters information company.