A senior official of General Motors will visit South Korea this week, sources said Sunday, raising expectations he could unveil new production plans for the Korean unit of the US carmaker.

Steven Kiefer, president of General Motors' international operations, will arrive in South Korea on Monday for a five-day stay, according to the sources from the labor union of GM Korea.

Kiefer is expected to visit GM Korea's plants, including those in Bupyeong and Changwon, and meet officials of the state-run Korea Development Bank, a key shareholder of the local unit.

The trip comes after representatives of GM Korea's labor union visited the Detroit headquarters of General Motors in June and invited him to travel to South Korea.

During their visit, the workers also asked for assigning production of electric cars and other new vehicles to GM Korea's plants. Observers said Kiefer could unveil relevant production plans as he visits Korea this week.

GM Korea has seen its sales drop markedly this year amid semiconductor supply shortages and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Its January-October sales shrank 30 percent to 211,239 units from 300,352 in the same period a year earlier. (Yonhap)