A South Korean business group in Beijing has invited Chinese businessmen to an investor fair to be held at an inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea in October, a group official said Wednesday.

The investor fair, organized by The Korea Chamber of Commerce in China, is aimed at paving the way for goods made at the industrial complex in North Korea's border city of Kaesong to make inroads into mainland China as Seoul and Beijing signed a bilateral free trade agreement in June.

The Korea-China free trade deal, which has yet to be ratified, will cover goods produced at the Kaesong complex, which was opened in 2004 as a landmark symbol of rapprochement between South and North Korea. About 120 South Korean firms employ some 53,000 North Korean workers there.

"We are inviting Chinese businessmen to the investor fair as the Kaesong Industrial Complex is emerging as a competitive production base with affordable wages and higher productivity," a KCCC official said.

The investor fair will be held on Oct. 29 at the complex, according to the official.

On Tuesday, South Korea said it had reached a breakthrough agreement with North Korea to increase the monthly wage for North Korean workers at the Kaesong complex by 5 percent to $73.87.

The two countries came to agreement despite the growing tensions over a land mine attack blamed on the North in the demilitarized zone that maimed two patrolling South Korean soldiers. (Yonhap)