The top priority was identifying the victims, supporting their families and treating the two survivors, Acting President Choi Sang-mok told a disaster management meeting in Seoul.

"Even before the final results are out, we ask that officials transparently disclose the accident investigation process and promptly inform the bereaved families," he said.

"As soon as the accident recovery is conducted, the transport ministry is requested to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the entire aircraft operation system to prevent recurrence of aircraft accidents."

As a first step, the transport ministry announced plans to conduct a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by South Korean airliners beginning on Monday.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok, was trying to land shortly on Sunday morning at the airport in the south of the country.

Investigators are examining bird strikes, whether any of the aircraft's control systems were disabled, and the apparent rush by the pilots to attempt a landing soon after declaring an emergency as possible factors in the crash.

Experts say many questions remain, including why the plane appeared to be travelling so fast and why its landing gear did not appear to be down when it skidded down the runway and into a concrete embankment.

Transport ministry officials said as the pilots made a scheduled approach they told air traffic control the aircraft had suffered a bird strike, shortly after the control tower gave them a warning birds were spotted in the vicinity.

The pilots then issued a mayday warning and signalled their intention to abandon the landing and to go around and try again.

Shortly afterwards, the aircraft came down on the runway in a belly landing, touching down about 1200 metres along the 2800m runway and sliding into the embankment at the end of the runway.

The crash killed mostly local residents who were returning from holidays in Thailand, while two Thai nationals also died.

Investigators on Monday were trying to identify some of the more than two dozen remaining victims as anguished families waited inside the Muan airport terminal.

Park Han-shin, who lost his brother in the crash, said authorities told him that his brother had been identified but has not been able to see his body.

Park called on other victims' families to unite in responding to the disaster and recovery efforts, citing a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people.

Many relatives of the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster complained it took authorities too long to identify those killed and the cause of that accident.

Transportation ministry officials said the jet's flight data recorder was recovered but damaged and it was not clear whether the data could be analysed.

The recorder was taken to Seoul and an analysis will begin when US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing officials arrive late on Monday.

Muan International Airport remains closed through Wednesday but the rest of the country's international and regional airports including the main Incheon International Airport were operating as scheduled.

Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the crash and automatically involve the NTSB since the plane was designed and built in the United States.

A large memorial has been set up in a county gym about 10km from the crash site, where people including Acting President Choi have gone to pay respects.

Choi, who is overseeing recovery efforts and the investigation, became acting leader just three days ago after the country's president and prime minister were impeached over the imposition of a short-lived martial law.

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