Motorola Mobility has confirmed that it will close "most" of its operations in Korea. The confirmation came after Korean news site DDaily leaked details of an internal memo about the departure from Motorola Mobility Korea president Jung Chul-jong. The move is part of a global restructuring effort that the company hopes will improve its fortunes, and will result the vast majority of Motorola's six hundred-or-so Korea-based employees being let go with compensation. After struggling for a long time, Motorola Mobility was purchased by Google, which has cut thousands of jobs in an attempt to stem the division's continuing losses.

Motorola isn't the first company to flee from Korea — HTC pulled out of the region back in July. In a statement given to the press, Motorola Mobility said "this was a difficult but necessary decision" and confirmed that it will stop selling mobile devices in Korea, as well as ceasing all R&D efforts in the region. Only 10 percent of the Korea-based R&D staff will be offered relocation, but Motorola says it will "strive to make the transition as smooth as possible" for its other employees.

Hyunhu Jang contributed to this article