An appellate court on Thursday turned down a damage suit filed against former President Park Geun-hye by thousands of ordinary citizens who argued that they suffered mental distress from the power abuse and corruption scandal centering on the former leader.

Upholding the lower court's initial rejection of the suit in May last year, the Seoul High Court again dismissed the case filed by around 4,400 citizens.

The suit was filed in January 2017, a month after the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach Park, who faced accusations of corruption and abuse of power. Park was finally ousted from presidency in March 2017. The suit demanded financial compensation of 500,000 won ($413) per person for the mental distress and damage inflicted by the scandal.

"Even if national and social interests were violated by (Park's) acts, the reaction and relevance to (such) crimes against public interest could vary for each person," the appellate court said, dismissing the suit.

"It cannot be defined as fact that all the nationals suffered mentally to the extent that they need compensation ... (given that) each plaintiff has to prove his or her case individually, but there isn't any evidence (to make the case)," the court said.

Defending against the case, Park's side has previously denounced the suit as "political propaganda," not a proper civil suit, demanding the case's dismissal.

Park is now serving a combined 32-year prison term that includes 25 years for abuse of power and corruption and five years for illegally accepting off-the-book funds from the chiefs of the National Intelligence Service. 

Another two years stem from her conviction linked with illegal meddling in a party nomination process ahead of the 2016 general elections.

Park's corruption sentence is currently under retrial at an appellate court after the top court ordered a review of the case last August. (Yonhap)