Foreign reporters will be allowed to attend routine briefings for the first time. In the past, the briefings have been open only to mainstream South Korean media.
The decision is seen as a rebuff to the privileges powerful domestic press clubs have enjoyed for more than 50 years.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it is in Korea's best interests to give exposure to what the country is doing, both domestically and overseas.
South Korea shifted toward democracy in the late 1980s, unmuzzling a domestic media that had rarely dared to challenge successive military-backed governments.
The change followed a protest from the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club, and a series of verbal and written appeals for access from the Seoul bureau of The Associated Press.
The Finance Ministry opened briefings to foreign media amid the 19-97 to 98 Asian currency crisis.
The Foreign Ministry sought to persuade 30 beat reporters from South Korea's domestic press clubs to approve the latest change.