New chief expected to accelerate housing supply push and LH restructuring
Lee Sung-hoon, a former presidential secretary for land and transport affairs, took office Thursday as president of Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), ending a vacancy that had lasted roughly eight months. With a new chief now in place at the state housing developer, attention is turning to whether the government's public housing supply drive will gain momentum.
Lee began work Thursday morning, according to government sources. President Lee Jae-myung approved the appointment Wednesday. An inauguration ceremony is expected to be held next week.
Lee Sung-hoon entered public service in 1996 after passing the technical civil service examination. He held a range of posts at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, including director of road operations, director of urban and metropolitan transport, director of real estate development policy, director of logistics policy, director of regional policy and director of technology policy.
Since the current administration took office last year, he served as presidential secretary for land and transport, coordinating housing and infrastructure policy between Cheong Wa Dae and the ministry. He also has a prior working relationship with President Lee Jae-myung — in 2021, he was seconded to Gyeonggi Province as director-general of construction while Lee Jae-myung was serving as governor.
LH has been operating under an acting leadership arrangement for about eight months since former president Lee Han-joon submitted his resignation last August and was dismissed in October. Earlier attempts to fill the post fell through after the government rejected candidates recommended from within LH.
With the prolonged leadership vacuum now resolved, observers are watching whether the government's housing supply agenda will pick up speed. A housing supply expansion plan the government announced last September called on LH to take direct charge of public housing development — rather than selling public land to private developers — as a key measure to accelerate delivery.
Under that plan, LH was estimated to be able to break ground on about 60,000 units of public housing in the greater Seoul area by 2030 through direct development, without any private land sales.
A separate plan announced in May calls on LH to purchase and lease out 90,000 units of rental housing in the greater Seoul area, using non-apartment properties to expand supply quickly in the short term. That initiative is also a core project under LH's remit.
A restructuring plan developed by an LH reform committee launched last August is also expected to be unveiled soon. The leading proposal would split LH into two functional units — one handling development projects such as housing supply, and another managing liabilities and assets related to public rental housing operations. Details on public housing supply methods, including both for-sale and rental options, are also expected to be released alongside the restructuring plan.
hss@heraldcorp.com
