US Halts Prosecution of Ex-CIA Analyst Accused of Working for South Korea
Justice Department agrees to drop charges against Sue Mi Terry after one year of good behavior.
The U.S. Justice Department has agreed not to prosecute a former CIA analyst accused of secretly working for South Korea’s intelligence service in exchange for designer goods. The decision to halt prosecution was detailed in court documents filed Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors had accused Sue Mi Terry of sharing nonpublic government information, facilitating access for South Korean officials to U.S. officials, and accepting luxury gifts. These actions were allegedly taken in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances.
The Justice Department agreed to defer prosecution for one year. The charges will be dropped entirely if Terry remains out of legal trouble during that period. The agreement comes just weeks before Terry was scheduled to stand trial in Manhattan federal court on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
Prosecutors did not provide specific reasons for the decision in the court documents, stating only that they determined the interests of both Terry and the U.S. would be best served by deferring prosecution. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
Terry has consistently maintained her innocence. Her attorney, Lee Wolosky, issued a statement Tuesday expressing that Terry had served her country loyally for many years and was pleased with the outcome. "We have consistently maintained that her interactions with South Korean officials were conducted in furtherance of U.S. interests and her work as a leading American specialist on North Korea and East Asia," Wolosky said.
As part of the agreement, Terry acknowledged certain facts, including that she had shared notes from an off-the-record meeting with then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2022 with a South Korean intelligence officer. The documents also stated that she accepted designer handbags and coats from South Korea’s intelligence service, valued collectively at approximately $9,245, for her work.