The United Socialist Party of Korea was a

Left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. The party was founded in the spring of 1961, through the merger of two groups.Kemseke, Peter van.
Towards an Era of Development: The Globalization of Socialism and Christian Democracy, 1945-1965
'. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2006. p. 150 The party was led by Kim Chul. The newly founded party applied for membership in the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...

. The party was crushed after the 1961 military takeover of the country. It was banned, most of its leading members arrested and three of its leaders (two editors and a publisher of the party organ '' Minjok Ilbo'') were sentenced to death. The party was refounded at a congress in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

on September 20, 1966. At the time, the party was an observer member of the

.Laidler, Harry W.
History of Socialism : A Comparative Survey of Socialism, Communism, Trade Unionism, Cooperation, Utopianism, and Other Systems of Reform and Reconstruction
'. New York: Routledge, 2010. p. 841 It claimed a membership of 17,500.
The Daily review: Supplement
', Vol. 16. Новости Пресс Агенций (АПН), 1970. p. xlix

References

Socialist parties in South Korea Defunct political parties in South Korea Political parties established in 1961 Formerly banned socialist parties Banned political parties in South Korea {{SouthKorea-party-stub