A deflected effort from Lee Seungwoo opened the scoring in the 36^th minute and the win was sealed by two goals in quick succession from substitute Lim Minhyeok and Paik Seungho inside the final quarter of an hour.

Lee played a through ball to Lim, who finished calmly with only goalkeeper Moussa Camara to beat, while Barcelona B team-mate Paik's lobbed finish from a Jeong Taewook headed pass put the game out of reach.

Victory puts South Korea joint top of Group A alongside England, who earlier defied the odds to beat Argentina 3-0 and end a tournament record of 17 games without a win that stretched back 20 years.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck with a sensational diving header in the 38^th minute to stun the South Americans from Kieran Dowell’s whipped cross.

Adam Armstrong converted another Dowell pass seven minutes after the break, firing home at the near post, and Dominic Solanke slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to wrap up a memorable triumph.

Argentina finished the match with 10 men after the first instance of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology being used in the tournament led to Lautaro Martinez seeing red for catching Fikayo Tomori with an elbow.

VAR was also called upon to disallow a South Korea goal in the later game.

Group B action also begun today at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium, where Venezuela defeated Germany 2-0 and Mexico overcame debutants Vanuatu 3-2.

Venezuela’s encounter with Germany, the opening match of the competition, was settled by two quick-fire goals from Ronaldo Pena and Sergio Cordova shortly after the interval.

Pena scored the first goal of the tournament after 51 minutes, rounding Germany goalkeeper Dominik Reimann and finishing into an open net.  

Just three minutes later, Cordova completed a passing move instigated by Adalberto Penaranda.

Mexico, meanwhile, ensured their win with a last-minute goal from Edson Alvarez after Vanuatu had come from behind to tie the match at 2-2.

Two moments to forget for Daniel Alick in the Vanuatu goal handed Mexico a 2-0 lead inside 25 minutes as he spilled Kevin Magana’s effort into the goal, before gifting the ball to Ronaldo Cisneros to score.

Not to be denied, Bong Kalo coolly slotted past Abraham Romero to halve the deficit in the 52^nd minute and Vanuatu were back on level terms shortly after the hour mark as Ronaldo Wilkins slotted home after finding a gap to strike past three defenders.

It proved to be in vain though with Alvarez finding time and space to finish from six yards in the 94^th minute.

Action in South Korea is scheduled to continue tomorrow when Groups C and D get underway.

Group C sees Zambia face Portugal and Iran go up against Costa Rica at the Jeju World Cup Stadium.

South Africa’s clash with Japan and Italy’s meeting with Uruguay make up the Group D line-up at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.