Lee Seong-hoon Appointed as New Head of LH, Aiming to Accelerate Public Housing and Reforms

 
The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) has filled its leadership vacancy after eight months. Lee Seong-hoon, a former presidential secretary, has been appointed as the new president, signaling a potential acceleration in public housing supply and organizational reforms that had stalled during the vacancy.
 
LH announced on July 3 that Lee Seong-hoon has been appointed as its seventh president. His term will last three years, until July 2029.
 
Born in 1973 in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, Lee graduated from Chungbuk High School and earned a degree in civil and environmental engineering from Korea University. He also completed a master’s program at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration. Lee entered public service in 1996 after passing the technical examination and has held various positions within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, including director of real estate development policy, logistics policy, regional policy, and technical policy, as well as policy planning director. He also served as the director of climate policy at the 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee and most recently worked as the presidential secretary for land and transport. Notably, he gained local administrative experience while serving as the director of construction in Gyeonggi Province in 2021.
 
Since the dismissal of former president Lee Han-jun in October of last year, LH has been operating under an acting leadership structure. The appointment of a new president comes after the government repeatedly excluded the selection of a new leader from its deliberations, raising concerns about the effectiveness of policy implementation.
 
With the leadership gap now filled, there is optimism that LH will drive efforts to stabilize the housing market in the metropolitan area and implement internal reforms.
 
The most urgent task ahead is the expansion of public housing supply. Initiatives such as the third new town project, the development of new public land, and the provision of public rental and sale housing have been difficult to advance without clear decision-making from LH. Given Lee's background in shaping the current administration's real estate policies, it is expected that on-site execution will be strengthened.
 
The government is also expected to intensify its push for LH's organizational reform. Currently, the government is considering a significant restructuring plan that would separate LH's housing supply and development functions from its debt and asset management operations. Given the potential internal resistance to such a major overhaul, Lee's political weight as a former presidential secretary and his planning capabilities honed during his time as policy planning director are seen as crucial for successfully navigating this restructuring process.