Seoul City Sue

Anna Wallis Suh (1900 – 1969), the woman generally associated with the nickname Seoul City Sue, was a Methodist missionary, educator, and North Korean propaganda radio announcer to United States forces during the Korean War.

Anna was born in Arkansas, the sixth of six children. After her mother and father died in 1910 and 1914, she relocated to Oklahoma to join a sister's family while she completed high school. She spent her early adult years as an office clerk and Sunday school teacher. Subsequently, she studied at the Southeastern State Teachers College, in Durant, and the Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 1930 with a B.A. in ministry. She spent the next eight years working as a member of the American Southern Methodist Episcopal Mission in Korea. As Japanese colonial authorities continued to restrict the activities of foreign missions, Anna joined the staff of Shanghai American School (SAS) in 1938. There she met and married fellow staff member Sŏ Kyu Ch’ŏl (서규철 徐奎哲, also spelled Suh Kyoon Chul), thus losing her United States citizenship. Late in World War II she was interned by the Japanese for two years with other White Europeans at a camp in suburban Shanghai. After release, she resumed work at SAS for a year, before returning to Korea with her husband in 1946.