South Korea on Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the country's worst maritime disaster, when hundreds of schoolchildren died after the overloaded Sewol ferry capsized and sank.

The disaster and botched rescue efforts dealt a crushing blow to then-president Park Geun-hye, who was eventually impeached in 2017, and the tragedy remains divisive and politically sensitive in South Korea even now.

A Coast Guard vessel took some of the victims' families to the site of the sinking early Tuesday for a special ceremony.

At the site off South Korea's south coast -- marked by a yellow buoy -- the families called out the names of the deceased and threw flowers into the water, followed by a moment of silence.

People say: 'It's been 10 years, bury it (in your memory)'" Park Jeong-hwa, whose daughter Cho Eun-jung was among the 304 people killed in the tragedy, said ahead of the anniversary.

"I thought I was going to be able to do it, thinking maybe after 10 years, the pain would fade a bit. But instead, it's even more painful now."

President Yoon Suk-yeol, whose party was dealt a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections last week, offered his condolences to the families of victims at a Tuesday cabinet meeting.

"Even though 10 years have passed, the events of April 16, 2014, remain vivid in my memory," he said. (AFP)