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By Kim Hyun-bin

Korean business community expressed their condolences for the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed while on the campaign trail giving a speech to support another candidate in the upcoming elections for the upper house of Japan's parliament.

"On behalf of the Korean business community, we express our deepest condolences to the sudden passing of former Prime Minister Abe. Korea and Japan are the only friends in East Asia who pursue the common values of liberal democracy and a market economy," the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said.

"This incident is an act of terror, and we, as one member of (the community of) mature global citizens, strongly condemn it. We will work harder to improve Korea-Japan relations and revitalize economic cooperation through communication with the Japanese business community, such as Japan Business Federation (Keidanren)," it said.