Ex-CIA analyst and former Tufts professor Sue Mi Terry was indicted for secretly working for South Korean spies in exchange for luxury goods and nearly $37,000 in funding for a public policy program she controlled. A Fletcher School graduate, Terry taught an Experimental College class called “U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Policymaking” in spring 2022, while allegedly serving as a foreign agent to benefit the South Korean government.
In an indictment filed by a New York grand jury on July 17, prosecutors say Terry served as a “valuable source of information” for South Korea for over a decade after she stopped working for the U.S. government. Beginning around June 2013, South Korean intelligence officers allegedly paid Terry to provide them with private U.S. government information, advocate South Korean policy positions in media outlets and give spies contact to U.S. government officials.
As rewards for her services, South Korean officials bought Terry gifts including a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, a $2,950 Bottega Veneta handbag and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants, prosecutors claim. According to the indictment, she was also covertly given around $37,000 for a public policy program that Terry controlled which centered on South Korean affairs.
In one instance in June 2022, Terry provided a South Korean official with her notes from a private meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding U.S. policy toward North Korea. Weeks later, South Korean officials paid for her to organize a “happy hour” event where spies posing as diplomats could meet with congressional staff members.
“Terry later told FBI agents that … providing [spies] with access to these Congressional staffers was like ‘bringing the wolf in,’” the indictment reads.
Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, argues that the charges against Terry are baseless.
“[The allegations] distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States. Once the facts are made clear it will be evident the government made a significant mistake,” Wolosky wrote in a statement to the Daily.
A high-profile expert on U.S.-Korea relations, Terry worked as an analyst on East Asian issues for the CIA and served as the director for Japan, Korea and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council under the Obama and Bush administrations. In 2011, she left the government to work at a series of political think tanks.
Terry is facing two felony charges for failing to register under the Foreign Agents Restriction Act — which is required by law for those who engage in political advocacy on behalf of a foreign entity in the United States — and conspiring to violate the act. The Council on Foreign Relations, where Terry had been working since March as a Senior Fellow for Korea Studies, has placed her on administrative leave.
Tufts declined to comment on the charges.
