It had been Eom who had South Korea’s earliest sight of goal, cutting in from the left to run at the Japanese defence.

The Swansea City man had defender Tariqkani Hayato Okabe backpedalling as he raced towards goal but, as he shifted the ball onto his right foot, Eom was unable to control the shot and fired high over the bar.

Okabe threatened for the Japanese at the other end of the pitch three minutes later, the defender rising highest to meet a corner only to nod the ball over the crossbar in a promising start for both teams.

Yumeki Yokoyama then burst down the left to cause panic in the Korean defence, cutting possession back from the by-line and across the area to Yotaro Nakajima, whose goal-bound shot was deflected wide off the inside of Eom’s calf.

Yuya Fukunaga, introduced as a 28th minute substitute when Uche Nwadike was stretchered off with a knee injury, flashed his attempt across the face of goal as the Japanese looked the more likely to open the scoring.

Fukunaga gave the Koreans a scare three minutes into the second half when his shot on the run from the right side of the area flew across the face of Kim Joon-hong’s goal while six minutes later Yokoyama dragged the ball wide from 10 yards out.

Japan were to rue failing to turn their dominance into goals when, just after the hour mark, Korea Republic went in front.

Yang Min-hyeok won his tussle with Mihiro Sato on the right, forcing his way into space to deliver a cross that goalkeeper Rui Araki palmed into the path of Eom. A slip looked to have snuffed out the opportunity, but the 25-year-old to recovered his balance to fire into the top corner.

The Japanese were inches away from an equaliser with 11 minutes to go, Hisatsugu Nishi bending a right-foot shot beyond Kim Joon-hong’s dive to his left. But rather than hit the back of the net, the ball clipped the post to the despair of the home fans and the Koreans held on for another gold medal win.

In the bronze medal match, Li Hao's excellence saw the goalkeeper make two brilliant stops in the shoot-out to give China PR a 4-3 win against Uzbekistan after the two sides had been tied 2-2 after regulation time.