South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo has defended misfiring striker Park Chu-young and hinted that he will select him for Thursday's crucial World Cup group match against Belgium.

The forward has failed to make an impact at the tournament so far, but Hong has backed him to rediscover his goalscoring form ahead of the must-win fixture.

"It is important to have him for the overall balance of our team," he told reporters.

"In the first match I don't think he played that poorly, in the second match I think that we didn't make enough chances and in addition to that our defence wasn't strong and so we conceded goals and that is what led to our defeat.

"But overall I think that Park Chu-young in the middle is the one who creates a balance in the team and so he has fulfilled his role but we haven't made enough chances for him to make a goal."

South Korea must defeat Belgium convincingly and hope that the match between Algeria and Russia falls in their favour to stand any chance of making it to the last 16.