LH chief plans to convert Gangnam headquarters into youth housing

Lee Seong-hun, the newly appointed president of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) who took office in July, said Thursday the corporation would convert its Seoul regional headquarters building in Gangnam-gu into public housing for young people. The move reflects LH's contribution to the government's push to expand urban housing supply, putting a prime transit-oriented site in central Seoul to work on youth housing needs.

Lee made the announcement at a luncheon briefing for Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reporters held at a restaurant in Gwanghwamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul. "We looked for ways LH could lead by example as an implementing agency for housing supply, and decided to offer the LH Seoul regional headquarters building — which has a 52-year history — as a residential space for young people," he said.

The LH Seoul regional headquarters sits in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, a five-minute walk from Gangnam-gu Office Station on subway Lines 7 and Suin-Bundang, and a seven-minute walk from Seonjeongneung Station on the Suin-Bundang Line. The site lies within a dense residential neighborhood and is close to Gangnam's core business district.

The building sits on a 6,588-square-meter plot with a total floor area of 8,601 square meters, spanning two basement levels and five above-ground floors. Zoned as a second-category general residential area, it served as the headquarters of Korea National Housing Corporation — LH's predecessor — from 1973 to 1997. Since 1997, when the predecessor's head office relocated to Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, LH's Seoul regional office has occupied the building.

"This place was a living witness to the history of housing in Korea — from the large-scale construction of complexes like Banpo Jugong and Jamsil Jugong in the 1970s, to land development in Sanggye-dong and Dunchon-dong, the building of 2 million homes, and the construction of the first-generation new towns," Lee said. "We decided to offer this symbolic building as a residential space for young people."

The decision signals LH's intent to ease housing insecurity among young people and boost supply as a public institution, by putting a valuable public site to use amid persistent concerns about a housing shortage in the Greater Seoul urban core.

Lee said accelerating public housing supply — including through the conversion of the LH Seoul headquarters — was a core priority, and pledged to dramatically shorten land compensation procedures for public housing sites.

"Public housing sites have seen sluggish ground-breaking in recent years," he said. "The area I am most focused on to speed up supply is compensation." He added that the volume of compensation work had grown so large that existing staff could no longer handle it. "We will dramatically increase the number of compensation personnel," he said.

Lee said LH was in talks with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and relevant authorities on legislative amendments and procedural improvements to accelerate the compensation process.

He also pointed to the management-evaluation-driven structure of public enterprises as an obstacle, and said he would work to build a framework that encourages faster housing supply. "The nature of public enterprises is that they move in the direction management evaluations reward," Lee said. "The situation right now is that pushing for faster supply leads to poor evaluation scores because of the financial burden it creates."

"Why should an organization be penalized for speeding up supply?" he said, adding that he expected positive results from ongoing talks with government ministries to change that dynamic.

Lee also stressed the importance of voluntary participation from LH staff in expanding housing supply, and said he would work to restore the corporation's reputation. "While calling for a race to speed up supply, I am also working with ministries and thinking about ways to boost employee morale," he said. "The vast majority of employees have nothing to do with misconduct, wrongdoing or gapjil, and I hope they can have their honor restored."

Meanwhile, Lee was guarded when asked about the LH reform plan the government announced it would release in September as part of its second-half work report. "I understand that the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and others are reviewing functional adjustments and consolidation — not just for LH but for public enterprises as a whole," he said. "The direction that will take has not yet been finalized."