South Korea ensured their place in the Asian Cup last 16 on Friday after continuing their perfect start.

The Koreans, runners-up in 2015, squeezed past Kyrgyzstan 1-0 thanks to a Kim Min-jae strike just before half-time.

South Korea and China are level on six points at the top of Group C ahead of their group-decider on Wednesday and join Jordan in the knockout stages of the Asian showpiece, which features 24 teams for the first time.

South Korea were made to sweat once again by minor opposition following their opening single-goal win over the Philippines.

But they will be glad to be safely through without the services of Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min, who sat out the first two games under a deal with the Premier League club.

Kyrgyzstan caused some anxious moments for South Korea in the first half, especially from corners with Bekzhan Sagynbaev having one effort saved at point-blank range.

At the other end, Lee Chung-yong blazed a glorious chance over and Koo Ja-cheol had a goal-bound shot punched away by goalkeeper Kutman Kadyrbekov -- in for Pavel Matiash, who was guilty of a howling own goal in their defeat to China.

From the resulting corner, defender Min-jae lost his marker and was first to the ball at the near post, where he made no mistake to put the Koreans ahead.

After the break, Akhlidin Israilov appealed vigorously for handball after Jung Woo-young's block, while Hwang Ui-jo twice hit the bar -- first with a header that bounced down and off the line, and then a fierce shot that was parried upwards by Kadyrbekov.

There was disbelief when Hwang Hee-chan rattled the crossbar once again for the Koreans, and it could easily have ended 1-1 if Kim Seung-gyu hadn't blocked Tursunali Rustamov's stinging shot in injury time.