The government will push for a measure to assign certain emergency exit-row seats of airplanes to uniformed personnel, such as soldiers, firefighters, police officers and airline employees, giving them priority order.

Second vice transport minister Baek Won-kug made the announcement during a government and ruling party meeting on Thursday held to discuss strengthening safety measures for aircraft emergency exits.

This follows an incident in May where a passenger en route to Daegu from Jeju opened a door mid-flight.

The vice minister said that since the incident, all such emergency exits of 335 aircraft were inspected and airlines stopped selling tickets for 23 seats that posed particular concern but noted that public anxiety and concerns linger.

Under the latest measure, uniformed personnel will be given priority in seating arrangements close to emergency exits.

In another incident in June, a passenger also tried to open the plane door and the successive cases have raised concerns on aviation safety.