GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem. Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem will be able to leave Korea after the justice ministry lifted a travel ban imposed on him by the prosecution, the company said Friday.

"We are relieved by the decision. Kazem will leave the country whenever he deems fit," an official of the Korean unit of the U.S. carmaker said.

The comment came a few hours after the ban was lifted, Thursday, clearing uncertainties over whether he would be able to lead the global carmaker's Shanghai office starting on June 1, as planned.

The U.S. head office said on March 5 (local time) that Kazem was to join SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited, a joint venture between GM and SAIC Motor.

"Kazem will be able to lead the GM's office in China ― the largest and the most important market accounting for over half of the firm sales volume total. He was promoted in recognition of his outstanding performance in Korea over the past five years," the official added.

Thursday's unexpected decision removed factors that could threaten investment relations with China, a shared concern among the local automobile industry. Industry analysts said Korea could have been shunned further by foreign investors, many of whom associate the country with business conditions highly unfavorable to non-Koreans.

The prosecution imposed the ban on three occasions since November 2019, when it opened an investigation into GM Korea and four of its officials, including Kazem.

The four officials and the automaker were indicted in July 2020 for the illegal control and supervision of 1,700 irregular workers hired by GM Korea's subcontractors between 2017 and 2019.

Prosecutors say the officials sent them to work at its plants in Incheon, Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province, and Gunsan in North Jeolla Province.

GM Korea said Kazem will fully cooperate with the ongoing prosecution investigation, as has been over the past few years.

"Kazem has never failed to appear before prosecutors and the court. The ban being lifted does not mean that he would make excuses not to come to Korea for questioning," the official said.