KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Reuters) - South Korea beat Iran 4-2 on penalties after a gruelling 0-0 draw in humid conditions to reach the Asian Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

Kim Jung-woo converted the winning spot-kick to send the

inexperienced Koreans through to a last-four clash with Iraq on

Wednesday at the same Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Victory avenged Korea's 4-3 quarter-final loss to Iran at

the 2004 Asian Cup in China and levelled their Asian Cup

quarter-final meetings over four consecutive tournaments at

2-2.

Korea coach Pim Verbeek was pleased that his young players

stood up to a virtual Iranian World Cup line-up.

'I'm very proud of the team,' Verbeek told reporters. 'They

worked very hard against a strong team and finished the game

very strongly.

'They were mentally prepared for the penalty kicks and we

can now look forward to the next game against Iraq.'

Iran, who practised penalties specially in training, used

substitute goalkeeper Vahid Taliblou for the shootout,

replacing Hassan Roudbarian in the 119th-minute.

But Verbeek's players had the cooler heads, sending their

more than 4,000 vocal Korean supporters into ecstasy.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei felt his team dominated the match

against the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists.

'That's football,' he said. 'The players did exactly what I

asked them to but only the final touch let them down.

'I am happy with their performance and I am the one who

should take full responsibility for this defeat.'

Showing good individual skills and support play, the

Koreans had a dominant spell midway through the first half,

with Oh Beom-seok stumbling after a mazy run and Lee Chun-soo's

deflected shot well saved by Roudbarian.

Iran's best chance of the half came in the 42nd minute when

Ali Karimi found himself one-on-one with Korean goalkeeper Lee

Woon-jai, who saved at his feet.

Iran pressed forward after halftime but a rare defensive

mistake in the 60th minute allowed Yeom Ki-hun a good chance to

shoot from outside the box.

With neither side able to break the deadlock, the match

went to extra time. Iran had the better chances but tired legs

meant the match ended at snail's pace.

Lee, an experienced shootout campaigner for Korea, emerged

as the hero with his two saves and was also named man of the

match.

Iran captain Mehdi Mahdavikia and Rassoul Khatibi missed

their spot-kicks and only Kim Do-heon failed for the Koreans.