2024-07-17 17:31:09
It is unusual for U.S. federal prosecutors to indict Sue Mi Terry, a senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a Korean-American expert on North Korea, on the 16th (local time) as an illegal lobbyist for the National Intelligence Service.
The 31-page indictment details the gifts, meals, and conversations Terry received from NIS agents who were stationed in the U.S. as diplomats since 2013. Also attached are CCTV photos showing Terry visiting a store with NIS agents to buy a luxury handbag and eating at a fancy restaurant with the agents.
It has been revealed that the NIS was not properly aware of the long-term surveillance by the FBI and others. According to the indictment, the FBI had already met with Terry around November 2014 and investigated his contact with the NIS. Accordingly, there are also claims that the NIS’s “security awareness” was complacent. There are also concerns that this could develop into an “intelligence disaster,” such as the inevitable shrinkage of public diplomacy activities targeting the United States.
● The contents of the US Secretary of State meeting were also leaked
In their indictment, federal prosecutors cited various NIS entertainment records as evidence that Terry engaged in illegal lobbying activities without registering under FARA.
The NIS agent purchased a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat with Terry in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., in November 2019. The two also purchased a $2,950 Bottega Veneta bag at a store in Washington on the same day.
The Dolce & Gabbana coat was paid for with the employee’s credit card and was tax-exempt due to his diplomatic status, but the purchase was registered to Terry’s account. Terry returned the coat two days later and exchanged it for a $4,100 Christian Dior coat. He paid the difference himself. Another NIS agent visited a Louis Vuitton store in Washington with Terry in April 2021 and bought a $3,450 bag.
Federal prosecutors also alleged in the indictment that Terry leaked the contents of a June 2022 meeting attended by U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken to an NIS official. Although the contents were prohibited from being leaked externally, Terry created a two-page handwritten memo. Immediately after the meeting, Terry got into a vehicle owned by an NIS agent with a diplomatic license plate. Federal prosecutors believe the agent took a photo of the memo. A photo of the memo is also attached as evidence in the indictment.
The indictment also includes Terry’s collaboration with South Korean diplomatic authorities. On January 10th of last year, Terry met with an NIS agent and received the South Korean government’s request to “establish a South Korea-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG),” and then emphasized the need for the NCG in an article on January 19th. The indictment also states that an NIS agent had Terry write an article positively evaluating the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s efforts to improve South Korea-Japan relations.
● The intelligence authorities’ easygoing intelligence activities
Some are pointing out that there was a major problem with intelligence activities and security, as the unofficial activities of our intelligence agency were completely exposed to the surveillance network of the U.S. intelligence agency. A diplomatic source familiar with the situation in the U.S. pointed out, “It was clearly careless for (our government) not to recognize the possibility that the U.S. intelligence agency was monitoring our intelligence agency’s unofficial contact with Terry.” Another diplomatic source said, “The indictment of Terry not only states that he traveled in our embassy vehicle, but also that they were aware of his conversations with intelligence officials during meals,” adding, “In the world of secret intelligence, sloppy intelligence activities have been exposed as they are.”
In the past, our government’s intelligence activities have been centered on Korean-Americans who are relatively easy to access and trustworthy. A former government official who worked on U.S.-related affairs in the 2010s said, “The U.S. has been sensitive to issues such as leaks of its own information, to the point where it rarely sends Korean-Americans to its embassy in Korea,” and “It seems that our government needs to carefully handle intelligence activities on Korean-Americans in light of this incident.”
Milwaukee = Correspondent Moon Byeong-gi [email protected]
Reporter Choi Ji-seon [email protected]
Reporter Shin Gyu-jin [email protected]
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2024-07-17 17:31:09