The appointment of the president of the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) is expected to be delayed longer than anticipated. It was expected that a new president could be appointed as early as the end of this month and move in earnest on organizational reform and public dwellings supply, but with the LH president appointment item not on the agenda of this month's Public Institution Steering Committee, some say a first-half appointment has effectively become difficult.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 18th, it was confirmed that the LH president appointment item was not submitted to the agenda of the committee meeting to be held that day. A ministry official said, "This meeting deals with items related to the management evaluation of public institutions," and noted, "We will not discuss matters other than the management evaluation."
The LH president is selected through an open call, document and interview screening by the executive recommendation committee, deliberation by the Public Institution Steering Committee, recommendation for appointment by the Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and approval by the president. The current LH president selection process is at the stage just before committee deliberation. Lee Seong-hun, presidential secretary for land and transport, is being strongly mentioned as the next president.
LH has been without a president for about eight months since former President Lee Han-jun resigned on Oct. 30 last year. After one round of the open call process for president fell through, LH is currently being run under a so-called "double acting" system in which an acting head is again acting. It is unusual for LH to be without a leader for such an extended period.
Initially, inside and outside LH, there was talk that the appointment plan might be deliberated at the committee meeting held last month. Accordingly, there were also projections that the new president system could launch as early as this month. However, after the LH president appointment item was excluded from last month's agenda and again was not submitted at the meeting that day, the appointment timeline has been pushed back. As a result, LH's double acting system also appears likely to continue for the time being.
As the appointment is delayed, the burden is growing on the LH reform effort the government is pursuing. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it would announce LH innovation measures in the first half of this year. A plan being strongly discussed now is to divide LH's functions into a development organization and a management organization. Under this approach, project implementation functions such as creating public housing sites would be handled by the development organization, while rental dwelling management and stockpiling functions would be handled by a separate management organization.
The problem is that even if a reform plan is announced, the chief executive to carry it out would be absent. LH reform inevitably entails organizational restructuring, personnel adjustments, and functional reallocation. But some point out that without a president, there are limits to pushing large-scale personnel moves and reorganization. Follow-up work after the announcement of the reform plan may struggle to gain speed.
There are also concerns that it could affect public dwellings supply policy. LH is the key agency that executes the government's public dwellings supply policy in the field. Given LH's major role in core dwelling supply projects such as the third new towns, public rental, and public sales, some say a prolonged leadership vacuum could undermine policy execution.