[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Byun Chang-heum, president of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), has been nominated as the successor to Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who faced criticism over the failure of real estate policies.
President Moon Jae-in replaced Minister Kim, who had led the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for three and a half years since the government’s launch in 2017.
The Blue House conducted a verification process for Kim’s successor involving bureaucrats and academics, and it is known that Byun, a real estate and urban housing expert who has supported the current administration’s jeonse (long-term lease) measures on the ground and carried out urban regeneration New Deal and public rental housing projects, was selected.
Byun, the nominee, is regarded as an expert in housing supply with a deep understanding of the Moon Jae-in administration’s housing policies. He is from Uiseong, Gyeongbuk, graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Economics, and earned a master’s degree in urban planning and a doctorate in public administration from the same university.
He has served as a senior researcher at Seoul Urban Development Corporation, an associate research fellow at Seoul Institute, a professor at Sejong University, and director of the Korea Urban Research Institute, a nonprofit private research organization, where he explored policy alternatives in housing welfare and urban poverty.
During the second term of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, he served as president of Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) for a three-year term starting in 2014, gaining experience as an administrator.
He also participated as a member of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development and the Special Committee on Urban Regeneration, engaging in policies on balanced national development and urban regeneration.
In April last year, he took office as president of LH and implemented the government’s housing supply policies on the ground.
He focused on swiftly designating districts for the 3rd New Towns to alleviate housing supply shortages alongside promoting urban regeneration New Deal projects, and LH was assigned to supply public jeonse, a core part of the government’s jeonse measures announced last month.
Meanwhile, in his asset disclosure in March, Byun reported owning one apartment of 129.73㎡ in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. The official price as of March this year is 590 million KRW. It is known that Byun purchased this apartment in 2006 and has lived there since. Including this apartment, his total declared assets amount to 604.86 million KRW.
Key Career
▲ Uiseong, Gyeongbuk (56) ▲ Neungin High School ▲ Seoul National University, Department of Economics ▲ Seoul National University, Master’s in Urban Planning ▲ Seoul National University, Doctorate in Public Administration ▲ Associate Research Fellow at Seoul Institute ▲ Professor, Department of Public Administration, Sejong University ▲ Director, Korea Urban Research Institute ▲ President, Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) ▲ Member, Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development ▲ Member, Special Committee on Urban Regeneration ▲ Planning and Evaluation Committee Member, National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences ▲ President, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH)
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