An indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York charges Terry with failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The 31-page document alleges that Terry promoted South Korean government positions in her public appearances and shared U.S. government information and contacts with South Korean intelligence agents. In return, she received luxury handbags, expensive dinners, and more than $37,000.
“Despite engaging in extensive activities for and at the direction of ROK government officials … Terry never registered as a foreign agent with the attorney general, as required by law,” the indictment states. The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
Terry, 54, was born in Seoul and raised in Hawaii and Virginia. She served as a senior analyst on Korean issues for the CIA from 2001 to 2008 and later held high-ranking roles at the National Security Council and the National Intelligence Council.
After leaving government service in 2011, Terry worked in academia and at various think tanks, including the Council for Foreign Relations, where she is a senior fellow for Korea studies.
Following the charges, the Council on Foreign Relations placed Terry on unpaid administrative leave, spokesperson Iva Zorić told UPI.
“[We] will cooperate with any investigation,” Zorić said in a statement. “We take the allegations very seriously.”
Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, told The New York Times that the allegations were unfounded.
“In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during the times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf,” Wolosky said in a statement.
According to federal prosecutors, Terry began collaborating with South Korean agents from the National Intelligence Service in 2013. The unidentified NIS agents, or “handlers,” posed as diplomats in South Korea’s U.N. Mission and Washington Embassy.
Terry initially published opinion articles aligned with Seoul’s views on North Korea but later facilitated meetings between the intelligence agents and U.S. national security policy officials. She also shared non-public information with the NIS agents. One example cited in the indictment describes Terry participating in a private, off-the-record meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2022. Immediately after the meeting, she was picked up by her primary South Korean intelligence contact, who photographed her handwritten notes.
In another 2022 incident, Terry invited congressional staffers to a Washington, D.C., happy hour nominally hosted by the South Korean Embassy but secretly funded by the NIS. This event allowed South Korean officials to “identify, evaluate and potentially recruit congressional staff whom they otherwise would not have been able to access,” according to the indictment.
Terry also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on at least three occasions, each time required to file disclosure forms declaring she was not a registered foreign agent.
In exchange for her work, the NIS provided Terry with gifts including a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, a $2,950 Bottega Veneta handbag, and a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag.
The South Korean agents also treated her to several meals at Michelin-star restaurants and deposited about $37,000 into an account she controlled while she worked at an unnamed think tank. In 2023, Terry participated in a voluntary interview with the FBI, admitting that she was a “source” for the South Korean intelligence service, according to the indictment.
She also acknowledged resigning from the CIA “in lieu of termination” due to the CIA’s “problems” with her contacts with ROK NIS officers.
The Justice Department has invoked the Foreign Agents Registration Act in several high-profile cases targeting foreign influence in the United States. On Tuesday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on 16 counts of bribery, extortion, and acting as an illegal foreign agent for the Egyptian government.
