[THE INVESTOR] General Motors announced on Feb.13 that it would shut down a Korean plant as part of restructuring efforts here. GM Korea’s accumulative losses reached a whopping 3 trillion won (US$2.70 billion) over the past five years.



GM said the move was due to huge labor costs and sluggish car sales, saying it may have to withdraw from Korea altogether if the local government fails to come up with a rescue plan that includes financial support.



It's not reported too often, but GM has actually earned more money in Korea than it spent, according to its financial reports. Since its acquisition of the former Daewoo Motor in 2002, the carmaker has invested 925.2 billion won and earned profits of at least 3 trillion won.



So Koreans are left to wonder what is really going on, especially since despite the downsides of doing business in Korea -- high labor costs and powerful unions -- global companies still choose to run production plants here on account of the skilled workforce and supplier networks.



Below are some facts that GM didn't reveal when announcing the plant shutdown.







GM CEO Mary Barra