Saenuri Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-min (58, East 2 District, Daegu) announced his departure from the party and his bid as an independent on May 23, a day before candidate registrations for the 20th parliamentary elections began.

He will walk a thorny path, a testing trial, in Daegu, a strong Saenuri area. This ends one of the worst candidate nominations, a "massacre" of non-Park lawmakers, carried out during the past 49 days by the pro-Park members, fulfilling the wishes of President Park Geun-hye.

This is also expected to trigger huge aftershocks throughout the upcoming parliamentary elections as well as in the city of Daegu.

This night at 10:50 p.m., Yoo held a press conference at his campaign office in Yonggye-dong, Dong-gu, Daegu and said, "I shall claim victory by the choice of the people and fulfill my political mission," officially announcing his departure from the party and his bid as an independent candidate. The announcement was made just an hour and ten minutes before the deadline for leaving the party to run as an independent candidate.

He was leaving a party he had served for sixteen years, but he put the emphasis on "a step toward the just and embracing conservative."

As he read his statement for slightly over seven minutes, Yoo mentioned Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, "All power comes from the people." At the same time, he said, "No power can beat the people." This was an extension of his statement on July 8 last year, when he stepped down as majority leader due to pressure from the pro-Park members. At the time he said, "I wanted to protect the stern value of Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution, which declares that 'The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic'."

Yoo's decision to leave the party is seen as his response to the pressure to leave the party from the pro-Park members. Lee Hahn-koo, head of the party's nomination committee, who is also the executioner of the "nomination massacre" had practically acknowledged that the party would not nominate Yoo as a candidate, yet delayed the announcement until just before candidate registrations (Mar. 24-25), when candidates are banned from changing their political parties. His purpose was to force Yoo to leave the party voluntarily. Just six months ago, Yoo had said, "I am the owner of the party. There is no reason to leave," but in the end he was forced to walk a path that he did not want to go.

Thus, Yoo's statement as he left the party was filled with anger at the candidate nominations, which turned out to be a massacre of the non-Park members. He said, "I am angry at how justice has been trampled," when referring to the latest candidate nominations. He also said, "It is not justice," "It is not democracy," "It is not common sense and it has no principle."

The first person to draft the "script" for ousting Yoo Seong-min was the president. Last May, when Yoo served as majority leader, he had disagreed with Cheong Wa Dae on the National Assembly Act. At the time, President Park publicly mentioned Yoo and asked the people "to judge a politics of betrayal in the elections." A judgment on traitors became the criterion for the candidate nominations carried out by the pro-Park group, and judgment came in the form of Yoo, whose name was first on the list of traitors, failing to run in the election as a Saenuri Party candidate.

This marks the end of his tough relationship with President Park, which lasted for twelve years. It was a time of extremes, as he went from "the original pro-Park" member to "traitor."

Yoo was unexpectedly appointed as chief of staff to the party leader in January 2005, when Park Geun-hye was party leader. He was referred to as "a key pro-Park member" and even as one of "the three closest aides," but the relationship, which began to slowly fall apart in 2008, never fully recovered. After the launch of the Park Geun-hye government, Yoo continued to voice bitter words and lost favor with President Park when he criticized the president's "welfare without raising taxes" as "fiction" in his speech as majority leader in the National Assembly last April. Eventually, Yoo stepped down as majority leader after 155 days, due to conflicts with the president last July.

An alarm has gone off for the Saenuri Party's winning streak--the party had won all twelve seats in Daegu, a strong Saenuri area. In particular, if the party decides not to nominate any candidate in East 2 District of Daegu, as stated by party leader Kim Moo-sung, the residents in this area will see an independent Yoo Seong-min competing against other candidates without any candidate running under the number 1 (Saenuri Party's number).

Efforts for an independent solidarity with lawmakers Yoo Sung-kull and Kwon Eun-hee in the Daegu area, who were also passed over for "true pro-Park" members, are expected to accelerate.