On Tuesday, 16th July, the Manhattan federal court in the US made public an indictment exposing that a former CIA analyst, Sue Mi Terry worked as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence agency in exchange for fancy handbags and sushi meals. Sue Mi Terry, who formerly served on the White House National Security Council, was not registered as a foreign agent with the US Justice Department, the court noted.
South Korean intelligence officials allegedly gifted her Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton handbags, a Dolce & Gabbana coat, and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Prosecutors say South Korean officials also supplied over USD 37,000 in “covert” funds for a public policy program on Korean affairs that she oversaw. Terry is accused of working as an agent for a decade beginning in 2013, two years after leaving her position with the US government.
According to the indictment, Sue Mi Terry pushed for South Korean policy viewpoints in the media, communicated non-public material with intelligence operatives, and coordinated meetings between US and South Korean government officials.
She also acknowledged and admitted to the FBI that she provided material to South Korean intelligence, including transferring handwritten notes from an off-the-record meeting in June 2022 with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the indictment.
Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, stated in a statement that the charges are unfounded and distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States. He stated that she had not possessed a security clearance in more than a decade and that she was a strong critic of the South Korean government during the period described in the indictment.
Sue Mi Terry, now a senior member of the Council on Foreign Relations, worked for the United States government from 2001 to 2011, first as a CIA analyst and then as the National Intelligence Council’s deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia.
According to prosecutors, Terry claimed she was not an “active registrant” on disclosure forms submitted to the House of Representatives, where she stated at least three times between 2016 and 2022, but she also never disclosed her covert work with South Korea, denying the legislature the opportunity to fairly evaluate Terry’s testimony in light of her longstanding efforts for the government.
It is important to note that the husband of Sue Mi Terry, Max Boot who is an American author associated with the Washington Post had opined in the year 2019 that former US President Donald Trump could be working as a Russian asset.
Boot also claimed, “Trump supported populist, pro-Russian leaders in Europe, such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France, just as the Russians did. Trump defended the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and repeated other pro-Russian talking points. He pulled U.S. troops out of Syria, handing that country to Russia and its ally Iran. He has effectively done nothing in response to the Russian attack on Ukrainian ships in international waters, thereby encouraging greater Russian aggression.”
Now it is his spouse who is being charged of working as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence agency in exchange for fancy handbags and sushi meals.
