An own-goal by Park Chu-Young paved way for the big win as Higuain doubled the lead, before Korea pulled one back through Lee Chung-Yong. After the break, Higuain added two more to complete the rout.

Diego Maradona's men are virtually through to the last 16, having won their sixth point. Korea are second on three points.

Late lifeline

The Koreans started well and looked defensively organized against their talent-brimming opponents, but their resilience came to an abrupt end in the 17th minute.

Argentina were one up when striker Chu-Young found the wrong end of the net, inadvertently beating his own keeper after a quality cross from Lionel Messi.

On 23 minutes, Argentina were forced to make a substitution as Walter Samuel appeared to have pulled a hamstring; Nicolas Burdisso came in.

Ten minutes after his introduction, Burdisso set up the second goal, flicking on Maxi Rodriguez's cross for Higuain, who headed in from close range.

Angel Di Maria had a volley parried by the keeper as Messi saw his attempted lob go inches wide, following some magic dribbling by the Barcelona wizard.

Against the run of play, Martin Demichelis gifted Korea a goal as he was so unaware of the pressure from Chung-Yong, who notched home past Sergio Romero after robbing the sloppy Argentina center-half.

Higuain double

Korea goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryung made two more good saves after the break, denying Higuain and Carlos Tevez, but his teammates couldn’t reward him.

In the 57th minute, the Koreans applied a wonderful team move ending up for a through-on-goal Yeom Ki-Hun, who hit the side-netting to crucially spurn the golden chance.

The Asians struggled to repeat their threat until Higuain completed his hat-trick with quickfire strikes.

The Real Madrid hitman easily bundled in Messi's shot against the post, before heading in Sergio Aguero's precise cross past the hapless Sung-Ryung.