SEOUL, Jan 22 (Reuters) - 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.

While investigators are still probing what caused Jeju Air

flight 7C2216 to crash, including reported bird strikes, experts

have said the massive berm that supported navigation antennas at

the end of the runway likely made the disaster more deadly than

it might have been otherwise.

In some of the first widespread reforms announced since the

crash, authorities said they will make new foundations or other

adjustments for similar antennas at seven airports including

Muan and Jeju International Airport - one of South Korea's

busiest - that are either below ground level or easy to break.

The decision came after reviewing the structures housing the

antennas that guide landings at the airports across the country

known as Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), or a "localiser".

"Muan International Airport plans to completely remove the

existing concrete and reinstall the localiser in a fragile

structure," the ministry said in a statement.

The Dec. 29 crash killed 179 people, with only two crew

members seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800

aircraft surviving.

Video footage showed the passenger jet slamming into the

structure and exploding after landing at high speed without gear

down and skidding past the end of the runway.

The runway design has also been criticised as failing to

meet safety standards, prompting authorities to extend

post-runway safety zones that are free of major obstacles.

The transport ministry said it will ensure a 240-metre

(787-ft) long runway safety area at all airports to meet all

relevant regulations. The area at Muan airport was about 200

metres long before the crash.

Police said separately that Son Chang-wan, the former

president of the state-run Korea Airports Corporation who was in

office when the structure at Muan airport was renovated, was

found dead in his home on Tuesday of an apparent suicide.

Son was not under investigation over the plane crash and

had not been summoned for questioning over it, a police official

said.

A shutdown of Muan airport has been extended until April 18,

the transport ministry said on Saturday.