U.S. automaker General Motors(GM) has reportedly offered to convert debt of around three trillion won owed by its ailing South Korean operation into equity in exchange for financial support from Seoul.

GM reportedly conveyed the debt-for-equity swap plan to the Seoul government to keep its business in South Korea, according to ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Young-pyo on Tuesday. 

The automaker also announced a plan to keep its annual production of 500-thousand vehicles by allocating a new SUV in its Bupyeong plant and a new crossover SUV in the Changwon plant. 

It was not immediately clear how the swap deal would affect the interest of the state-run Korea Development Bank, which owns 17 percent of GM Korea.

GM recently announced it will shut down its plant in Gunsan by May, which has been operating at 20 percent of capacity for the past three years.