South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo sought to focus on his team's preparations for next year's World Cup rather than the fraught campaign that eventually ended with the country celebrating qualification for an 11th consecutive finals.

A 2-0 victory over Iraq in Basra on Thursday confirmed South Korea's progress as one of two automatic qualifiers from Group B of Asia's preliminaries, and came 11 months on from Hong's controversial reappointment as head coach.

"It's an opportunity for us to test young guys who may be able to play at the World Cup next year," Hong said of Tuesday's remaining qualifier against Kuwait in Seoul.

"We won't have too many opportunities like this. It's one thing for those guys to watch from the bench, and quite another for them to play."

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