South Korea, beaten by Japan on penalties in the semifinals, struck first when Lee Yong-rae sent a low ball to a streaking Koo Ja-cheol who scored in the 17th minute for his tournament-leading fifth goal.

The Koreans doubled their lead in the 28th minute when Koo nudged a pass over to an unmarked Ji Dong-won, who slotted past the lunging keeper Ignatiy Nesterov.

Uzbekistan, which lost 6-0 to Australia in the tournament's most lopsided semifinal, appeared to be heading for another embarrassing defeat when the Koreans went 3-0 up. Ji powered a header past goalkeeper Nesterov from Hong Jeong-ho's 39th minute cross.

The Uzbeks, however, launched a comeback right at the end of the first half thanks to a dubious penalty call when Korean defender Hwang Jae-won tangled with striker Olim Novkarov on the edge of the area. Alexander Geynrikh then scored to cut the deficit to 3-1.

“The 6-0 against Australia was a shock to my players,” Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov said. “I told my players at halftime, play as you can. Uzbekistan can play much better than you've seen here.” Geynrikh added a second in the 53rd minute, taking a cross just outside the area, turning defender Lee Jung-soo inside out and then firing a shot past onrushing keeper Jung Sungryong. It was his third goal of the tournament.

But Uzbekistan couldn't find a goal to level the match.

Their best chance came in the 62nd minute when midfielder Viktor Karpenko found Novkarov but he only managed a weak shot that Sungryong grabbed easily.