A golden goal strike from Jung Hwan Ahn has dumped Italy out of the World Cup amid jubilant scenes in Daejeon.
The Perugia forward made up for a penalty miss early in the first half when he headed home Lee Young-pyo's cross with the game four minutes away from penalties.
The Azzurri had taken an 18th minute lead through Christian Vieri. The Inter Milan striker rose above two Korean defenders to head past Lee Woon-Jae.
Giovanni Trapattoni's side looked to have booked their place in the last eight but with two minutes remaining South Korea drew level.
Ki-Hyeon Seol held off a challenge from Christian Panucci before scrambling the ball past Gianluigi Buffon.
Worse was to follow for Italy when Francesco Totti was sent off for diving in the box in extra time.
And then the unthinkable happened in the 116th minute when Lee headed in the golden goal which will go down in World Cup history.
South Korea face Spain in the next round.
Earlier today fellow co-hosts Japan crashed out when they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Turkey in Miyagi.
Umit Davala's first half goal was enough to seal Turkey's passage into the quarter-finals where they will face the tournaments surprise package Senegal.
After impressing in the group stage Japan failed to reproduce the kind of performance which had already saw them beat Russia and draw with Belgium.
The all-important goal came after just 12 minutes. Ergun Penbe's cross was met by the unmarked Umit, who thundered his header past Seigo Narazaki.
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