Sue Mi Terry, FARA Violation, New York NY, 2024

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Table of Contents

Defendant Name, Crime, Location, Year

Sue Mi Terry, a former government official, has been charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in a shocking case of espionage.

Terry, 54, of New York, New York, was arrested yesterday and presented on criminal charges related to offenses under FARA.

According to court documents, after leaving U.S. government service and for more than a decade, Terry worked as an agent of the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK), commonly known as South Korea, without registering as a foreign agent with the Attorney General, as required by law.

As covertly directed by ROK government officials, Terry publicly advocated ROK policy positions, disclosed non-public U.S. government information to ROK intelligence officers, and enabled ROK officials to gain access to U.S. government officials.

In exchange for these actions, ROK intelligence officers provided Terry with luxury goods, expensive dinners, and more than $37,000 in funding for a public policy program focusing on Korean affairs that Terry controlled.

Terry served in a series of positions in the U.S. government, including as an analyst on East Asian issues for the Central Intelligence Agency, as the Director for Korea, Japan and Oceanic Affairs for the White House National Security Council, and as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.

Since leaving government service in or about 2011, Terry has worked at academic institutions and think tanks in New York City and Washington, D.C., and has made media appearances, published articles, and hosted conferences as a policy expert specializing in, among other things, South Korea, North Korea, and various regional issues impacting Asia.

Terry has testified before Congress on at least three occasions regarding the U.S. government’s policy toward Korea. As she admitted in a voluntary interview with the FBI in 2023, Terry served as a valuable “source” of information for the ROK National Intelligence Service (ROK NIS), the primary intelligence agency for the ROK.

Terry faces one count of conspiracy to violate FARA and one count of failure to register under FARA, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.