Former CIA analyst is arrested over ties with South Korea

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A former CIA analyst and prominent expert on East Asia has been arrested on federal charges. She's accused of acting as an undeclared agent of the South Korean government, a U.S. ally. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is learning more about her and the case. Hi, Ryan.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Tell us more about the defendant.

LUCAS: Well, her name is Sue Mi Terry. She worked in the U.S. government for a decade or so in the early 2000s as an analyst at the CIA, where she had a focus on East Asia. She also worked at the National Security Council for a period of time. But she left the government in 2011 - so more than a decade ago. And as a lot of former foreign policy folks do, she moved into the think tank world, and she's been a very prominent voice there on Korean issues in particular. She's testified several times before Congress. She's been a regular voice in the media. We've had her, in fact, as a guest on NPR several times.

But now, prosecutors say she was, for the past 10 years or so, covertly working on behalf of the South Korean government. Now, she's not charged with espionage, but she is facing federal charges for failing to register with the Justice Department as an agent of South Korea as she would have been required to under U.S. law.

SHAPIRO: What do prosecutors allege she did?

LUCAS: Well, they say, for years, she had this long-running relationship with South Korean intelligence officials, both in Washington and New York, and that she did specific things at their direction. The indictment says, for example, that she pushed certain policy positions in her articles and media appearances that were provided to her by South Korean intelligence officers. She also allegedly set up meetings at their behest with U.S. officials - in one instance with congressional staffers. And that gave Korean spies, in essence, a rare opportunity to scout for Hill staff to potentially recruit them as assets. Terry actually later told the FBI that this was like, quote, "bringing the wolf in."

There's another incident in the indictment, though, that stands out. It's an off-record meeting in June of 2022 with a small group of senior State Department officials at the State Department, including the secretary of state. And the topic of that was North Korea. Terry attended that meeting. The indictment says, immediately afterward, she met with her South Korean handler, who took photos of her handwritten notes from the meeting. Those photos are actually included in the indictment, but the notes themselves have been blacked out.

SHAPIRO: Hmm. What does the government say she got in return for allegedly doing all of this?

LUCAS: Well, according to the indictment, the South Koreans gave her luxury items, fancy dinners, money, as well. Among the luxury items, there's a Louis Vuitton handbag that costs almost $3,500. In the indictment, there's a photo pulled from surveillance footage of Terry and her alleged South Korean handler at a store in D.C. as they are buying that handbag. The Koreans also allegedly gave her tens of thousands of dollars that went to her public policy program that was focused on Korea, but they kind of tried to hide what that money was for.

SHAPIRO: Hmm. Since the indictment came down, have the think tanks or the defendant herself said anything about this?

LUCAS: Well, the Council on Foreign Relations said that it put Terry on unpaid administrative leave after this indictment came down. A spokesperson says they take these allegations seriously and that they will cooperate with the investigation. There's also the Wilson Center here in D.C. Terry led the Asia program there until July 2023. It said it has cooperated fully with investigators. A third think tank where she worked, CSIS, didn't have any immediate comment.

Now, as for Terry, her attorney, Lee Wolosky, said in a statement that these allegations are unfounded and that they distort her work. He said, look, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during the period of time when the indictment says that she was acting at Seoul's behest, on Seoul's behalf. And he says the facts, when they come out, will make clear that the government, he says, has made a significant mistake here.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thank you.

LUCAS: Thank you.

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