SEOUL, March 7 (Reuters) - South Korea's finance minister on Thursday asked local banks to actively support the ongoing reform around the foreign exchange market, saying the reform is also crucial for the government's "corporate value-up programme" introduced to boost the value of Seoul-listed companies.

Minister Choi Sang-mok made the comment in a rare meeting with the heads of five local banks, asking for their support as the government is seeking to improve foreign access to the onshore currency market.

Choi asked the five FX market-leading banks to make efforts on market-making during extended trade hours and promote participation by overseas institutions, the ministry said in a statement.

South Korea started to allow registered foreign institutions to participate in the onshore forex market from January and plans to extend trading hours to cover London business hours from July.

"It means the market-making banks need to play an active role in supplying liquidity during the early stage of extended trade hours when liquidity might not be sufficient," a ministry official said. (Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Yena Park; Editing by Stephen Coates)