A method of decoding video information by a decoding apparatus, comprising: receiving video information including a skip flag, prediction mode information, partition information and a merge flag; checking the skip flag representing whether a skip mode is applied for a current coding unit; checking the prediction mode information and the partition information based on the skip flag representing that the skip mode is not applied for the current coding unit, wherein the prediction mode information represents whether an inter prediction is applied for the current coding unit and the partition information represents a partition type for the current coding unit, wherein a prediction unit is derived from the current coding unit based on the partition type; checking the merge flag representing whether a merge mode is applied for the prediction unit, based on the skip flag representing that the skip mode is not applied for the current coding unit and a prediction mode representing that the inter prediction is applied for the current coding unit; and performing prediction on the prediction unit based on the merge flag representing whether merge mode is applied for the prediction unit, wherein the partition information indicates one of partition types comprising 2Nx2N partition type, 2NxN partition type and Nx2N partition type based on one of binary codes, wherein the partition information and the prediction mode information are checked by the decoding apparatus before checking of the merge flag by the decoding apparatus, wherein the binary codes comprise a binary code for the 2Nx2N partition type indicating '1', a binary code for the 2NxN partition type indicating '01', and a binary code for the Nx2N partition type indicating '001', and wherein the skip flag is checked by the decoding apparatus before checking of the merge flag by the decoding apparatus. receiving video information including a skip flag, prediction mode information, partition information and a merge flag; checking the skip flag representing whether a skip mode is applied for a current coding unit; checking the prediction mode information and the partition information based on the skip flag representing that the skip mode is not applied for the current coding unit, wherein the prediction mode information represents whether an inter prediction is applied for the current coding unit and the partition information represents a partition type for the current coding unit, wherein a prediction unit is derived from the current coding unit based on the partition type; checking the merge flag representing whether a merge mode is applied for the prediction unit, based on the skip flag representing that the skip mode is not applied for the current coding unit and a prediction mode representing that the inter prediction is applied for the current coding unit; and performing prediction on the prediction unit based on the merge flag representing whether merge mode is applied for the prediction unit, wherein the partition information indicates one of partition types comprising 2Nx2N partition type, 2NxN partition type and Nx2N partition type based on one of binary codes, wherein the partition information and the prediction mode information are checked by the decoding apparatus before checking of the merge flag by the decoding apparatus, wherein the binary codes comprise a binary code for the 2Nx2N partition type indicating '1', a binary code for the 2NxN partition type indicating '01', and a binary code for the Nx2N partition type indicating '001', and wherein the skip flag is checked by the decoding apparatus before checking of the merge flag by the decoding apparatus.