Shim Kyo-eon, the head of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), will retire at the end of this month. Established in 1978, the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) operates under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and is a research institution for policies related to the efficient use, development, and preservation of land resources. Shim plans to return to his previous position as a professor in the Department of Real Estate at Konkuk University starting in September.
Shim said on the 23rd, "I have stated my intention to resign to the government due to personal reasons and will continue to serve as the head until the end of this month."
Shim was appointed as the head of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) in August 2023 while serving as a professor in the Department of Real Estate at Konkuk University. His term was three years, set to last until August of next year. Prior to his appointment as head of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), he served as the Head of Team for the real estate task force (TF) of the transition committee for former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
He is known as a market-oriented scholar in academia and is a prominent critic of the real estate policies of the Moon Jae-in administration. He argued that the cause of the soaring housing prices was the government's strengthened real estate regulations and maintained that they should be left to market logic.
He also wrote a book titled "The Experiment of Madness, the Counterattack of the Market" analyzing the policies of the Moon Jae-in administration. In this book, Shim defined the cause of the soaring housing prices as the failure of the government's real estate policy. He stated in the book, "(The Moon Jae-in administration) has unleashed so many real estate measures over the past five years that it's hard to name them all," and added, "Measures that are uncertain whether they are experiments or proof ultimately led to a sharp rise in the real estate market, contrary to the government's intentions."
The new head of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) has not yet been confirmed.