South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)on Wednesday put into effect bilateral economic accords that Seoul officials said would encourage South Korean investment in the DPRK.

"The two sides exchanged the counter-signed documents at the border village of Panmunjeom Wednesday morning,"South Korean national news agency Yonhap News agency quoted the South Korean Unification Ministry as reporting.

The four agreements,signed in 2000and ratified later by the two countries'respective legislatures,call for protection of investment in the other party,elimination of double taxation,settlement of commercial disputes and clearance of debts.

In recent economic talks,South Korea and the DPRK also produced agreements on designating settlement banks for bilateral trade and confirming the origin of products,a process experts said could prevent third-country agricultural produce from being sold in the South as if it were from the DPRK.

The accord-exchange ceremony was postponed from Monday as the DPRK condemned an anti-Pyongyang demonstration in Seoul last week and said it could not dispatch the DPRK's athletes to the South Korean city of Daegu for the 22nd Summer Universiade.

After South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed "regret"over the anti-Pyongyang protest,Pyongyang agreed to send its sports delegation to Daegu again.And the DPRK 221-member delegation arrived South Korea earlier Wednesday.