NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The government announced measures to revamp and reorganize the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, some three months after allegations surfaced about its employees' involvement in speculative land purchases. As part of the reform, the government will slash more than 20 percent of the state-run housing company's workforce. In a bid to prevent leaks of information on future land development, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will take over the company's duty of surveying potential sites for new public housing projects. More duties will be taken away from LH and then assigned to other public agencies. Therefore, LH will be left only with the duties of improving housing welfare and supplying houses. In the process, some 2,000 positions will be eliminated from the company.
Justice Minister Park Beom-kye stresses his latest personnel decisions were impartial with no personal matters considered. He told reporters Monday morning that although there might be various assessments, he had drawn a clear line between public and personal affairs when carrying out the reshuffle at the prosecution last week. Regarding Lee Sung-yoon's promotion to the head of the Seoul High Prosecutors's Office, the minister underlined he had made the decision in accordance with the Constitution and law to serve public interest. Lee's promotion came as a surprise, as he has been indicted over allegations of power abuse.