Supporters of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday formed a new political party, named Saenuri Party.
The former ruling Saenuri Party recently changed its party name into the Liberty Korea Party. The word Saenuri is known to have been adopted by Park when she was the party chief in early 2012.
Thousands of Park supporters held the new party's inauguration ceremony in Seoul. Key figures of ultra-right civic groups, which had led the pro-Park rallies, took the main posts of the party.
The Park loyalists, mostly elderly voters in their 60s or older, have held rallies to protest against the impeachment and arrest of the former leader. They have claimed the nullification of the impeachment and the release of Park.
The constitutional court ruled on March 10 to permanently remove Park from office. Park was taken into custody three weeks later for 13 charges including bribery, abuse of power and the disclosure of confidential information.
During the ceremony, Park supporters waved national flags and the Stars and Stripes together as seen in the past demonstrations hosted by rightist civic groups.
The party members said that they decided to enter the political mainstream as their protest rallies against Park's impeachment were of no use. They planned to make efforts to make Park released.
The party has no lawmaker now. Even pro-Park lawmakers are affiliated with the Liberty Korea Party.
