LH, Executive Resignations Ultimately a Ploy(?)... Only 4 Whose Terms Have Effectively Ended Resign

It has been confirmed that the four executives of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) who stepped down due to the rebar omission apartment scandal had either already completed their terms or had less than a month remaining until their term expiration. As a result, it is expected to be difficult to avoid criticism that LH’s recent executive resignations are a face-saving 'trick' to evade blame.

Earlier, on the 11th, LH President Lee Han-jun held an emergency press conference and announced that he had taken responsibility for the rebar omission, the omission of subjects from the full inspection, and the concealment of the rebar omission facts, and instructed all executives to submit their resignation letters. He also stated that his own position would be decided by the appointing authority.

Lee Han-jun, President of LH, is seen offering an apology regarding the recent apartment rebar omission incident.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Later that same afternoon, LH announced that it had received resignation letters from five executives, excluding the currently recruiting standing audit committee member, and that four of them had been processed as resigned.

However, among the four executives whose resignations were processed, the terms of the Director of the National Housing Welfare Headquarters and the Director of the Land and Urban Development Headquarters had already ended last month. The remaining two (Vice President and Chairman of the Fair Management Innovation Committee) had terms until the end of next month, meaning their terms were practically about to expire. The Director of the Regional Balanced Development Headquarters, whose resignation letter has not yet been accepted, is known to have a term ending on March 19, 2025.

Immediately after the news of these executives’ resignations became known, criticism arose within LH that only executives who were going to leave soon were processed as resigned, calling it a trick. An LH employee said, “After hearing the president’s press conference and the news of the resignation processing of the four executives, there was severe internal unrest,” and added, “It seems like a too superficial, face-saving show.”

Previously, during the real estate speculation controversy in 2021, LH also replaced four standing directors, but two of them had only nine days left in their terms, which led to criticism.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.