SEOUL: A renowned Korean American expert on North Korea has been charged with having acted as an agent for the South Korean government in return for expensive dinners and handbags, a U.S. newspaper reported Tuesday, citing federal prosecutors in New York. Sue Mi Terry, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former analyst of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has been indicted on the charges, according to The New York Times. She is said to deny the charges. She began operating as a foreign agent in June 2013, five years after leaving the CIA, the newspaper said. She was first contacted by a person posing as a minister for the Korean mission to the United Nations in New York. In return for her work over the ensuing decade, she received Louis Vuitton handbags and a $3,000 Dolce and Gabbana coat, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and at least $37,000 in covert payments, according to the report. As part of her work for South Korea, she wrote articles in U.S. and South Korean publications reflecting Seoul's policy priorities, according to the indictment. She also testified before Congress three times about North Korea, which required her to sign a form before each hearing declaring that she was not a registered foreign agent, NYT said. Terry was born in Seoul and grew up in Hawaii and Virginia. She earned her Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Source: Yonhap News Agency