South Korea will begin accepting registrations from foreign investors to trade the won onshore, in a move to open up its currency market.

The government will take applications starting Wednesday from foreign financial institutions that are willing to trade the onshore won directly using the local interbank foreign-exchange market, the finance ministry said in a statement.

About 30 foreign firms expressed interest in participating in the onshore foreign exchange market in a preliminary survey, according to the statement.

--With assistance from Shinhye Kang.