It was inevitable and desirable that reformist lawmakers decided to leave the ruling Saenuri Party where loyalists of President Park Geun-hye have been digging their heels in to shield their beleaguered boss and hold onto their vested interests.

The breakup of the party had largely been anticipated because the Park loyalists had been refusing to take responsibility for the crisis in the Park presidency.

The decision by 34 lawmakers to leave the party next week will certainly have implications beyond the mere separation of two antagonistic groups and a split of the conservative bloc.

Most of all, the launch of a new conservative party by the breakaway group could lead to political realignment or a series of alliances ahead of the next presidential election.

The breakaway group, which includes former party leader Kim Moo-sung and former Floor Leader Yoo Seong-min, said 34 lawmakers have signed an agreement to quit the party Tuesday.

More lawmakers who do not belong to the pro-Park faction might also join forces. This is highly likely, as 62 of the 128 Saenuri members are believed to have joined the opposition to vote to impeach Park earlier this month.

Moreover, some senior members have already left the party, including Gyeonggi Gov. Nam Kyung-pil and fourth-term lawmaker Kim Yong-tae. Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong and former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, both presidential hopefuls, also indicated that they would follow suit.

This means the potential new party could supersede the People’s Party as the third-largest party -- behind the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and Saenuri -- and would have clout strong enough to play a key role in any political realignment possibly involving potential presidential candidates such as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo.

Whatever direction the future party and presidential politics may take, the breakup of the Saenuri Party has put the nation’s conservative forces into an unprecedented crisis.

It is regrettable that the party -- to be exact the pro-Park faction -- lost the chance to pull itself and conservatives as a whole out of the Park crisis and restore public confidence ahead of the presidential election.

Park loyalists worked toward their own and Park’s undoing. Since Park was elected, the pro-Park faction of the ruling party has only looked to the president. Their critics described the party as “one privately owned by Park” and the Park loyalists as her “political slaves.” Such descriptions are not unfounded, considering the nomination debacle in April in which Park and her underlings supported candidates for parliamentary election on the basis of loyalty to her.

After the scandal broke out, party leader Lee Jung-hyun, who is close to Park, was bent on shielding the president and holding onto control of the party. He shunned mounting public pressure that called for him and his fellow pro-Park members to step down from their posts.

Lee stepped down only after Chung Woo-taik, another Park loyalist, was elected new floor leader. Chung offered reconciliatory gestures by promising that the pro-Park faction would disband voluntarily and that senior members would not take party posts.

He also suggested that nonmainstreamers recommend the head of an interim leadership council. But by dismissing the suggestion that Yoo Seong-min -- a harsh critic of Park -- should be chair of the interim leadership panel, Chung and his comrades showed that their proposal was only aimed at appeasing the reformists to keep them from leaving the party.

Even after the announcement that 34 lawmakers would leave the party, the pro-Parks kept accusing them of betraying the party, Park and conservative voters. They are the only ones who do not realize that their blind allegiance to Park helped her betray the mandate given by voters and plunged the nation into a political crisis.

Meanwhile, the breakaway group is tasked with providing a new vision for politics and recouping conservative forces. Such efforts, of course, should be based on self-reflection on their failure to prevent Park and her underlings from ruining state affairs.