WASHINGTON, (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called for more investment in building infrastructure to catch up with South Korea and other outperforming countries.In a message to Congress attached to his budget for the 2012 fiscal year, Obama said the U.S. "lags behind other nations when it comes to the infrastructure of the future," noting that "only 63 percent of American househo

The number of female workers in South Korea grew in 2010 as the economic recovery boosted employment among women job seekers, data showed Tuesday.The average number of female workers came to 9.91 million last year, up 142,000 from a year earlier, according to the data offered by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Statistics Korea.Female workers have been on a steady increase in recent years

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Most Americans believe China is the world's leading economy, even though in reality the rising Asian power's GDP trails that of the United States, a poll said Monday.Some 52 percent of Americans said China was the "leading economic power in the world today," against 32 percent who said their own country, the Gallup poll said. The percentage who said China has soared over recent

Shinhan Financial Group nominated Han Dong-woo, a former vice chairman of the group’s life insurance unit, as the single candidate for its chairman ship Monday.The nation’s third-largest financial group said its candidate selection committee picked Han out of the four potential candidates for the top post.Woori Finance Holdings Co., Korea‘s top financial services company, also named two candidates

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Apple is developing new lines of smaller and cheaper iPhones and overhauling its software to facilitate users’ access to entertainment, photos and video, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.The new device ― code-named “N97” ― will be about half the size of the iPhone 4 and cost about half as much as Apple’s main line of iPhones, the Journal said, citing a person who saw a pr

Proposal trims defense spending, limits tax benefits for the rich and freezes many domestic programsWASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama will send Congress on Monday a $3 trillion-plus budget for 2012 that promises $1.1 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade by freezing many domestic programs for five years, trimming military spending and limiting tax deductions for the wealthy.Jac

Overseas investors sell stock in response to inflation fears but not thought as part of long-term trendForeign investors pulled out the biggest amount of capital from Seoul stocks in Asia this month, reversing earlier snap ups on inflation fears.The selling spree was part of a regional outflow as investors fled to rebounding advanced economies, away from continued monetary tightening in emerging e

Major telecoms, including Korea’s KT Corp. and SK Telecom, have moved a step closer to commercializing an open mobile applications platform established by a multinational alliance of telecoms and device manufacturers.At the global mobile industry show which launched in Barcelona Monday, local mobile carriers KT and SKT demonstrated some of their to-be-commercialized applications that follow the gl

China, the world’s biggest electricity consumer, is figuring out how to capture a larger share of the solar-energy market without losing money. The government will spend at least a year studying Europe’s system of paying above-market prices for solar power before deciding if there’s a better way to spur clean-energy plants across China, said Wu Dacheng, an adviser to national power regulators. The

Hyundai Motor Co. will begin receiving pre-launch orders for the Veloster from Monday. The vehicle will be launched on the local market later this month. The vehicle, which the company has termed PUV (premium unique vehicle) has three doors ― one on the driver’s side and two on the passenger side ― and comes with a 1.6-liter gasoline direct injection engine that puts out 140 brake horsepower.The c