Ahmed Mubarak scored soon after coming off the bench at the start of the second half to haul his team back into the game after Kang Jin-hyok and Ryang Myong-il had given the North Koreans the lead.

Ismail Al Ajmi hit the equaliser in the 54th minute to spare the blushes of Gabriel Calderon against a team that did not participate in the qualifying tournament for the Asian Cup.

Despite their absence from next month's jamboree in South East Asia, the Koreans made Oman look second best for much of the first half and they took the lead 20 minutes into the game when Kang rounded Ali Al Habsi before slotting into an empty goal.

Ri Jong-man's side then doubled their lead from the penalty spot in first-half injury time when Ahmed Hadid was harshly adjudged to have fouled down Kang and Ryang scored from 12 yards.

However, it was a different story at the start of the second half as substitute Mubarak made an instant impression.

Three minutes after coming on, the central midfielder stormed down the right side, slaloming past three Korean defenders before smashing his shot across goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk and into the far corner of the goal.

Six minutes later the Omanis had pulled themselves level, but not before Al Ajmi hit the post with a shot from the edge of the area in the 53rd minute.

Less than 60 seconds later, though, he had the ball in the back of the net when he slotted home from close range.