General Motors to cut South Korean jobs ahead of Chevy Europe pullout

General Motors, the top US automaker, plans to cut jobs in South Korea next year as it pulls its Chevrolet brand from the European market, a GM spokesman said Tuesday. GM Korea will launch a voluntary departures program for 6,000 employees who do not work in factories by the end of March, GM spokesman Greg Martin told AFP. The company did not disclose the exact number of job cuts sought. GM's 10,000 factory workers in South Korea are not included in the downsizing, Martin said. The payroll reductions stem from GM's decision to withdraw most of its Chevy brand vehicles from Europe. Many of those are made in South Korea. GM announced in early December it would largely withdraw its Chevy brand from the European market by 2016, citing the "difficult economic situation" on the continent. Instead it plans to concentrate on marketing its German-made Opel vehicles and its British sister brand Vauxhall, and in coming years push its luxury Cadillac models