Last chance for problem-plagued LH

The mystery of missing steel reinforcements in apartments administered by state-run Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) is snowballing. The number of LH apartment complexes with their underground parking lots built on a flat-plated structure missing rebar numbered 20, instead of the 15 announced earlier. LH explained that it left out the other five from the official announcement because it deemed the shortage ignorable.

The public enterprise which promised to investigate all apartments constructed on the flat-plated structure is carrying out inspection on 102 complexes, not 91 it initially announced. More could be added to the list. How reliable can a comprehensive inspection be if the corporation does not even know exactly how many apartments are built on such a structure?

After being briefed on the updates of the probe, Land and Infrastructure Minister Won Hee-ryong last week scolded LH for not being able to gather precise information on the problematic apartments. He questioned the raison d’être of the public entity if it has not even kept tabs on the work under its jurisdiction. But the ministry also shares the responsibility as it has the responsibility to oversee the operations of LH.

The talk of LH reform surfaced two years ago, when employees were found to have been on a speculative property frenzy in the sites the corporation had designated for the third New Town project. The corporation came up with a reform outline in June 2021 to cut payroll and register the assets of its employees. At the time, the land minister bowed in an apology to the people.

The company has continued to announce glitzy plans to reform itself since. In March, it pledged a public-oriented management of the company with a vision to build dream homes and cities of hope. It pledged to eliminate corruption and upend unfair construction culture through ethical and safety management. But it had been all talk and no action.

The corporation was born through the merger of the housing and land corporations in 2009. But whether there had been a synergy effect from the integration should be thoroughly examined. The current president of LH also admitted that accountability has become ambiguous because the reporting system became confusing after the merger. He discovered a fractured legacy among housing administrators and infrastructure engineers, as an engineer who couldn’t read blueprints sat in the structure review team. Despite the flashy slogan, the public corporation could not fix the internal flaws.

LH needs a full makeover if it really wants to continue to function as a public enterprise in charge of providing new urban locations and public housing for the people.