Korea Republic downed AFC U-16 Championship hosts Uzbekistan with an emphatic 3-0 win at Pakhtakor Stadium on Sunday to set-up a semi-final meeting with defending champions Japan.

Kim Dong-jin set the 2002 winners on their way in the first-half before substitutes Son Heung-min, with his fourth goal of the tournament, and Lee Chang sealed a comfortable win after the break.

The triumph sees Korea complete Wednesday’s semi-final line-up and also the four Asian qualifiers for next year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.

Roared on by a passionate home crowd, Uzbekistan took hold of the contest from the first whistle but they were soon silenced as Korea opened the scoring with their first real attack.

Lim Dong-cheon’s searching ball forward found Kim Dong-jin streaking through the middle unmarked after beating the home’s side off-side trap.

And with only Oybek Talipov in the Uzbekistan goal to beat, he nudged the ball past the stranded custodian on the edge of the area before rolling home his second goal of the tournament into the unguarded net with 11 minutes on the watch.

Maksim Utkin, searching for a third goal of the championships, fired Uzbekistan’s first shot on target midway through the first-half as his low snapshot from the edge of the area was beaten away by Korea goalkeeper Kwon Tae-Ahn.

Uzbekistan’s best chance of the half came two minutes before the break as Utkin found Bobur Abdurkhmonov streaking through the middle but he failed to squeeze his effort past Kwon’s outstretched arms.

Despite Uzbekistan’s strong end to the first half, Korea doubled their lead just nine minutes after the restart as Kim Jin-Su’s deep cross from the left wing found Son unmarked at the far post for the midfielder fired his first time volley into the ground before the ball looped over Talipov.

Ayubhon Gapparov, captaining Uzbekistan in place of the suspended Akramjon Bahritdinov, fired straight at Kwon following Abdumutallib Abdullaev’s strong run and clever pass, while at the other end Kim Dong-jin fired straight at Talipov from a tight angle after being found unmarked at the back post.

With 17 minutes remaining, Lee’s solo run ended with a low drive from the edge of the area found the back of the net and took his tournament tally to three, while also seeing the home fans head for the exits before Korea comfortably ran the clock down in the closing stages.