But officials enforcing the no-liquids rule at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport have been busy seizing another outlawed item: kimchi, a concoction of salted and fermented vegetables that is a staple of every Korean dinner table.

A passenger plane has caught fire before takeoff at an airport in South Korea, but all 176 people on board have been safely evacuated.

The fire broke out in the back of the cabin, officials said. All 176 people on board, including passengers and crew members, were evacuated, some with minor injuries.

An Airbus plane belonging to South Korean carrier Air Busan caught fire on Tuesday at Gimhae International Airport in the country's south while preparing for departure to Hong Kong, fire authorities said.

An investigation into a fire that engulfed an Air Busan plane at a South Korean airport this week is being slowed by a large amount of fuel and oxygen still on board, an air crash investigation official told Reuters.

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.

Passengers evacuated from an Air Busan plane that was engulfed in flames this week at a South Korean airport will have their checked baggage returned to them, after authorities on Friday deemed the jet safe for a full investigation.