South Korea will remove a concrete structure at the runway of one of its southern airports, the scene of a plane crash that killed all but two of the 181 people on board last month.

The transport ministry instructed nine low-cost carriers to improve safety standards and avoid prioritising cost-cutting.

South Korea's transport ministry said on Wednesday that it would remove the concrete embankment installed at Muan International Airport following last month's Jeju Air crash, its deadliest domestic air disaster.

The Jeju Air flight was bringing passengers home from Thailand after Christmas when it made an emergency landing at Muan airport and exploded after slamming into a concrete barrier at the end of the runway.

The South Korean Transport Ministry announced on Wednesday that the concrete feature would be removed from Muan International Airport, according to Reuters. Most other international airports simply mount similar arrays on breakaway posts to allow planes to overrun the pavement across flat ground.

South Korea will extend runway safety areas and redesign infrastructure after the crash of a Jeju Air Co. flight last month that killed almost everyone on board, sparking criticism that the design of the airport might have exacerbated the accident.

The last four minutes of data before the disaster which killed 179 people are missing, transport authorities say.

The two black boxes on the Boeing jet involved in the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil stopped recording about four minutes before the accident, the transport ministry said on Saturday. South Korean investigators previously said the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were key to finding out the cause of last month's crash that killed 179 people.

Son Chang-wan was in office while works were undertaken at Muan International Airport. Last month, a plane crashed into a concrete barrier there, killing 179 people.