Rival parties said Tuesday they agreed to begin discussions for the swift passage of the anti-terrorist bill following the deadly terror attacks in Paris.After holding a parliamentary meeting, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy agreed to activate relevant committees to have the pending bill pass through "as soon as possible.""The bipartisan agreement reflects public concerns amid growing needs for tougher anti-terror measures," Saenuri spokesman

South Korea has raised the alert level by one notch and vowed to tighten security in major facilities in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, officials said Tuesday.  After holding a meeting involving ministries concerned about anti-terrorism countermeasures on Monday, the government decided to raise the alert level from "concern" to "caution," according to the officials. It is the second-highest warning in the country's four-tiered system. The "caution" level entails tougher measures

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin vowed vengeance as Moscow on Tuesday confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board. Putin pledged to ramp up Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria in response to the attack but stopped short of blaming any one group as the country's security agency announced a $50 million reward for information leading to capture of those responsible. "It is not the first time that Russia confronts barbarous

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong’s rare visit to a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard has sparked speculations over the fate of the shipbuilding unit, which has been reeling under severe losses.Market watchers are continuing their guessing game over the Samsung Group heir apparent’s visit Monday to the shipyard on Geojedo Island, South Gyeongsang Province, the first of its kind in eight years. Sources said that Lee’s move hints at a possible restructuring or sell-off of the loss-mak

The government said Sunday it is moving to ban small cigarette packs from being sold in the market as part of an effort to discourage smoking.The health ministry said it plans to revise the National Health Promotion Act that will prevent the sales and advertisement of packs with less than the standard 20 cigarettes.Usually a pack has 20 cigarettes, but recently there have been smaller packs coming out in the market with 14 and sometimes 10 cigarettes. British American Tobacco launched Dunhill Ex

Birds that may have been infected with avian influenza (AI) have been discovered at duck farms in the South Jeolla region, the government said Sunday.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, duck farms in Yeongam and Naju in the southwestern part of the country may have contracted the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).It said the AI antigens of the H5N8 strain were discovered in birds that were to be shipped to the market."Under standard operating procedure, a res

Shinsegae DF, the duty-free arm of the county’s second-largest retailer Shinsegae, reached an agreement with a duty-free store in Hainan, China to supply Korean products for five years, the firm said Friday. This is the first time for the company to enter the Chinese market since Shinsegae DF was established in April this year. The exclusive contract was made prior to the opening of the Hainan Provincial Duty Free Co.’s new shopping mall at Mission Hills Resort in Haikou, Hainan Island, set to l

Korean retailers’ sales grew at a fast rate thanks to Chinese tourists who opened their wallet while visiting the country on China’s National Day holidays, data showed on Sunday.According to the data, sales to Chinese customers of Korea’s major department stores including Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, increased over 30 percent on average during Oct. 1-7 from a year earlier. Luxury brands such as Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Chanel were top-selling stores for Chinese customers at Lotte Dep

Troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering may have an additional 1 trillion won ($860 million) in losses from overseas affiliates, adding more pressure to the shipbuilder that already reported its worst-ever operating loss of 3 trillion won in the second quarter, a recent audit on the firm found. According to industry sources on Sunday, the massive losses were caused by underperforming affiliates abroad including Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries in Romania and German wind turbine manufac