The country came seventh in Beijing in 2008 with 13 golds, such as that won by Lim Su-Jeong (pictured) in the women's 57kg taekwondo.

"We are under a great deal of pressure since South Korea won a record number of medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics," said Park, the President of the KOC.

"But we will do our best to live up to people's expectation with results matching our strong performance in Beijing."

He added that 250 competitors from the nation would be taking part at the London Games.

They are due to complete their preparations with a pre-Games training camp at Brunel University.

South Korea made its Olympic debut at London in 1948 when they won two bronze medals, Han Soo-Ann in the flygweight boxing and Kim Sung-Jip in the middleweight weightlifting.

But they had to wait until Montreal in 1976 for their first gold medal when wrestler Jung-Mo Yang won the men's freestyle featherweight.

South Korea joined the United States-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow but they really started to establish themselves as one of the most powerful Olympic nations at Los Angeles in 1984 as they built-up to the their home Games in Seoul.

They won a total of 19 medals there, including six gold, which was the platform for their success in Seoul in 1988.

There they finished fourth overall with a total of 33 medals, including 12 gold with their winners including Yoo Nam-Kyu (pictured), who triumphed in the men's table tennis as the sport made its Olympic debut.

They mainted their momentum at Barcelona in 1992 with 29 medals, matching their 12 gold medals.

Since then they have never won less than seven gold medals, peaking at Beijing with 13, part of 31 medals to finish seventh overall.

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