[Exclusive] SH Corporation Begins Appointment of New President... Who Is Kim Heon-dong of Next?

SH Corporation Holds Board Meeting to Discuss Formation of Executive Recommendation Committee
President Kim Heondong Expresses Willingness to Participate in President Recruitment
Rumored Candidates Include Deputy Mayor Yoo Changsoo, Former Lawmaker Kim Seondong, and Former Special Advisor Lee Kwangseok

Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) has begun the process of appointing a new president. The procedure to select a successor to the current president, Kim Heon-dong, whose term expires on the 14th of next month, has started.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 30th, SH Corporation held a board meeting on the 24th to discuss the formation of the Executive Recommendation Committee. The committee consists of seven members: two from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, two from SH Corporation, and three experts recommended by the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Once SH Corporation completes the committee formation, it will announce the recruitment for the president position and invite candidates to apply.

After the presidential candidates submit their application documents, the committee will conduct document and interview evaluations and recommend at least two final candidates. Then, the Mayor of Seoul will appoint one final candidate. The appointed president will be confirmed after a personnel hearing by the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Considering the recruitment process and hearing, it is highly likely that the new president will be finalized early next year.

President Kim Heon-dong is expected to participate in the presidential recruitment again this time. He has expressed his intention to challenge for the next term several times. Under current law, Kim’s reappointment is possible, but consecutive terms are difficult. Article 56-2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Public Enterprises Act states that consecutive terms are allowed if the president achieves top performance in management performance contract fulfillment evaluation, local public enterprise management evaluation, and work performance evaluation, or if the results of these three evaluations show a significant improvement compared to the previous year. The criteria for top evaluation are determined by the Minister of the Interior and Safety after deliberation by the Local Public Enterprise Policy Committee. An industry insider said, "The evaluation results themselves do not seem to meet the conditions for consecutive terms."

President Kim previously served as the head of the Real Estate and Construction Reform Headquarters at the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice. Since his inauguration, he has disclosed the cost of housing sales, supplied land lease housing (Baeknyeon Jutaek), and carried out projects such as Gold City.

Kim Heon-dong, President of SH Corporation. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Besides President Kim, candidates for the new president include Yoo Chang-soo, Deputy Mayor for Administration 2, former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seon-dong, and former Seoul City policy advisor Lee Kwang-seok. Deputy Mayor Yoo served as a policy advisor during Mayor Oh’s term in 2006, later served as head of the Urban Headquarters at East Eye Group, and as an external cooperation management advisor at SH Corporation. He was recruited as the head of Seoul’s Housing Policy Office in 2022 through an open position and has served as Deputy Mayor for Administration 2 since June last year.

Former policy advisor Lee Kwang-seok has assisted Mayor Oh since 2006 as a policy secretary, then served as chief policy officer and policy advisor, before resigning at the end of last year to complete his doctoral dissertation in architecture at the University of Seoul. Former lawmaker Kim Seon-dong served as a member of the 18th and 20th National Assembly representing Dobong-eul, held positions such as head of the Yeouido Institute and secretary-general of the People Power Party, and also ran in the 2020 Seoul mayoral preliminary election.

A Seoul city official said, "There is talk that it is inappropriate for a deputy mayor, a vice-minister level position, to move to a public corporation president position."