LH union threatens general strike if government pushes ahead with spinoff plan

The union of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) said Thursday that its roughly 8,000 members have begun strike procedures and will launch a general strike if the government presses ahead with plans to split up the state housing developer.

The LH union made the announcement at a press conference held Thursday morning in front of Cheong Wa Dae Sarangchae in Seoul, where public-sector unions affiliated with the two major labor federations declared a joint campaign against the government's public institution reform drive and LH spinoff plans.

The government unveiled its "public institution functional reform plan" on Sept. 3, signaling its intention to split LH into two separate corporations — one handling land development and housing construction, and the other overseeing residential welfare and asset reserves. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is expected to announce a separate, detailed "LH reform plan" outlining the specific functional restructuring for each organization.

"Eight thousand union members have already entered dispute procedures, including a general strike," the union said. "If the government ultimately forces through its unilateral, hastily drawn-up breakup plan, we will join forces with the 550,000 public-sector workers under the joint committee of the two major labor federations and wage an all-out fight against the government."

The union argued that splitting LH would actually hinder, rather than help, efforts to expand housing supply.

According to the union, LH's housing supply achievement rate relative to its targets hovered around 100 percent from 2017 to 2020, but tumbled to 38.3 percent in 2021, 44.1 percent in 2022 and 50.9 percent in 2023 after the government rolled out reform measures following allegations of real estate speculation by LH employees that year.

"The rate recovered to 100 percent in 2024, but fell again to 84.3 percent last year as the LH Reform Committee's spinoff push resurfaced," the union said.

The union added that the number of employees taking leave or resigning has run at roughly 1,000 a year since the government's unilateral reform announcement in 2021 — 908 in 2021, 931 in 2022, 821 in 2023, 1,012 in 2024 and 1,027 last year.

The union called on the government to reverse its unilateral reform measures and restore staffing levels. It also urged the government to establish a labor-management consultative body to assess the impact of a forced LH breakup on housing supply and debt resolution, and demanded that the government's accountability for policy outcomes be codified in writing.

On LH's 174 trillion won ($127 billion) debt load, the union described it as "policy-driven debt accumulated in the course of supplying public rental housing," arguing that expanded government fiscal support and improvements to the rental fee structure were needed rather than an organizational split.

"The government demands record-high housing supply while cutting staff and forcing a 200 percent debt-ratio cap — and now it wants to split us into a factory that bakes the bread and a factory that manages it," said Jang Hyo-su, co-chairman of the LH union. "It is the government, not LH, that needs to be reformed."