Motorola Mobility on December 10 confirmed that it is shutting down most of its operations in South Korea as part of a move to consolidate research after being bought by Google this year. "This was a difficult but necessary decision," Motorola said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"The changes in Korea reflect our plans to consolidate our global R&D efforts to foster collaboration, and to focus more attention on markets where we are best positioned to compete effectively."

California-based Google said in August that it would lay off about 4,000 employees at Motorola, which it purchased in a deal valued at $12.5 billion, in order to return the company to profitability.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012