Seoul City Sue has Arkansas roots

Wallis briefly attended college in Oklahoma and worked as a clerk and volunteered as a Sunday School teacher. Through her work with the church and the Student Volunteer Movement at the college, she became interested in missionary work overseas. In 1929, she transferred to Scarritt College, a Tennessee school for training missionaries and church workers. She graduated in 1930 and was chosen by the Southern Methodist Conference to teach at a mission school the church had established in Korea.

Once she left for Asia, she would only return on a handful of occasions. The Japanese occupation of Korea, however, made it increasingly difficult for missionaries to work. In 1938, she moved to Shanghai to teach at the Shanghai American School. She continued to work at the school after the Japanese invasion. There she met Suh Kyoon Chul, a Korean expatriate and radical who also taught at the school. The two soon married, and she increasingly expressed her husband’s radical political ideas. In 1939, she attempted to return to the U.S., but her husband was not allowed to enter the country because of his suspicious political associations. The two returned to China. She and her husband would remain there for the remainder of the war.

After World War II ended, she and her husband left for Korea where she would work as a teacher at a school for the children of American diplomats in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. However, she was fired not long afterward after her husband’s political activities were brought under suspicion.

The two remained in Seoul. On June 25, 1950, communist North Korea attacked the South. Knowing that the North Koreans were approaching the city, they decided to stay. On June 28, Seoul fell to North Korean forces as South Korea’s confused and overwhelmed army was routed. As the North Koreans settled into their occupation, they rounded up civilians and tortured and killed suspected dissidents. Records discovered later showed that she and several other civilians left in the city swore a loyalty oath to North Korea. The couple were moved to a location near the radio station, and on July 18, North Korean authorities began broadcasting propaganda from Seoul as “Radio Seoul.”

She had no training as a broadcaster, and her presentation was widely mocked for being monotone. Friends who knew her later insisted this was proof that she was being coerced. American soldiers fighting the communist onslaught began calling her “Ricebowl Maggie” and “Seoul City Sue” after a popular song of the day, “Sioux City Sue.” Before long, her identity began to be discovered. In late August, her sister in Oklahoma acknowledged in a newspaper interview Seoul City Sue’s real identity. Though her sister had not heard from her in some time, she theorized that she was being forced to do the broadcasts.

Her broadcasts mocked the Allied effort against North Korea as she played popular music to draw in Allied listeners. As the war continued, her broadcasts became even more inflammatory. She announced the names of captured American soldiers, named units and locations, named Allied ships approaching and docking in Korea, and mocked African-American soldiers for fighting for a United States that still supported segregation. An American bombing raid on the radio station in August briefly knocked the station off the air. When American forces retook Seoul on Sept. 25, she and her husband left with the retreating North Koreans. She continued her broadcasts for the rest of the war.

American officials debated whether she could be charged with treason for her broadcasts. Once the war ended with the 1953 armistice, it was largely decided that she was not worth the effort.

Details of the next few years have been sketchy. According to reports, she worked for the North Korean government as a translator and helped develop propaganda materials.

In 1969, with her usefulness to the North Korean regime at an end, she was executed. She was accused of being a spy by a government that cared nothing of the due process and human rights guaranteed in the country she left far behind. Whether she expected this end or ever realized that traitors themselves are often betrayed, no one can say. Few records of her later life have ever been revealed. After her death, she was forgotten about and her memory left to fade.

In the early 1970s, defectors coming across the border back into South Korea relayed the stories of her ultimate fate. She was briefly mentioned as an aside on the 1970s sitcom MASH, which took place during the Korean War.

The Korean War ultimately left more than 2 million dead on both sides, including more than 33,000 Americans. This is not counting the bodies broken by injuries, the families separated, or the minds shattered by the trauma of war. Many Arkansans served their country with great courage and dedication during this terrible ordeal, rightfully being called heroes for their efforts. The stain of Seoul City Sue’s propaganda broadcasts would become a dark footnote to a terrible war.

Dr. Ken Bridges is a Professor of History at South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado. He has written seven books and his columns appear in more than 85 papers in two states. Dr. Bridges can be contacted by email at kbridges@southark.edu.