GM Korea, the Korean unit of the Detroit-based General Motors, said Friday that it was offering workers a new voluntary redundancy package worth a three-year salary as part of its recent efforts to normalize its financial statements, hit by sagging sales performance.

According to industry sources, office workers and some manager-level employees at its Bupyeong factory in Incheon will be eligible for the new round of the early retirement program, the fourth of its kind since 2009.

Except those who started working after 2011, most of the 6,000 or so office workers at the company will qualify for the program. The company declined to elaborate further.

The decision comes after GM announced in December that it would drop the Chevrolet brand in Europe from 2016, which indicates an annual 15 to 20 percent output cut for the Korean operation.

In 2012, GM Korea shipped some 187,000 Chevy-brand vehicles to Europe, about 90 percent of all GM cars sold in the region.

With fears looming about possible large-scale restructuring at its Korean factory, officials said Friday that its production staff would not be considered for the latest retirement program.

“Like the recent decision on a Europe pullout, the retirement program is aimed at improving our revenue structure,” said a GM Korea official. He also rebuffed the rumors that the cut was part of a bigger plan from GM Korea to pull out of Korea in the near future.

Early this month when GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha expressed his gratitude toward President Park Geun-hye for resuming the production of the Damas minivan and Labo minitruck, he also reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Korean market.

“We are here to stay,” he said during the closed meeting between the president and foreign business leaders at Cheong Wa Dae on Jan. 6. President Park responded with, “The government is here to support you.”

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)