HONG KONG - WALT Disney Co said on Tuesday it has trimmed about 30 jobs in Hong Kong as discussion with the local government to expand its theme park remains uncertain.

The latest layoff also came a month after the Burbank, California-based entertainment giant said it would shed an unspecified number of workers amid the global financial turmoil.

Disney has been in talks with the Hong Kong government about expanding Hong Kong Disneyland, which is a joint venture between the two parties. Local media had reported the government, which shouldered the bulk of the park's US$3.5 billion (S$5.4 billion) construction cost, is reluctant to invest more public money.

'After two years of Disney investment in creative and design work and extensive negotiations with our partner, the Hong Kong government, we have not yet reached a final agreement to expand Hong Kong Disneyland,' Mr Leslie Goodman, executive vice-president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement.

The layoff on Monday included about 30 Hong Kong-based employees after the company suspended all creative and design work of the expansion plan, Disney said in the statement.

Responding to Disney's decision, the Hong Kong government said it is 'puzzled' and urged the company to reconsider.

'We consider that The Walt Disney Company's laying off of Walt Disney Imagineers who have been working on the design of Hong Kong Disneyland's expansion will not be conducive to the discussions,' a spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said in statement emailed to The Associated Press. -- AP