South Korea have had little time to dust themselves off after a draining 1-0 win over Japan before Tuesday's Asian Games semi-final against Thailand.

Having come through one politically charged encounter, victory over Thailand could see the host nation take on their cousins from north of the border in the men's football final, in what would be another emotion-filled evening.

North Korea first have to keep their end of the bargain and they will find no quarter given by an impressive Iraq side who overpowered Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the quarter-finals, sparked by two goals from captain Younis Mahmoud.

Something will have to give when South Korea and Thailand meet as neither side has conceded a goal so far in the competition. Thailand brushed aside Jordan 2-0 in the last eight.

"Thailand are skilful and organised but they haven't really faced anyone as strong as us yet," South Korea coach Lee Kwang-Jong told a news conference. "We are not Maldives or East Timor. It will be different for them tomorrow."

As an added carrot for Lee's players, they will be excused two years of mandatory military service if they end a 28-year title drought and win the tournament, which is played under the same under-23 format as the Olympics.

The South Koreans dominated against Japan but required a late penalty from Jang Hyun-Soo to break the tension in front of 43,000 fans at the weekend.

"We haven't won a gold medal at the Asian Games for a long time," added Lee. "The players are feeling the nerves but hopefully they will go out there and enjoy it."

South Korea could give hulking striker Kim Shin-Wook a run-out against Thailand after Lee decided not to risk him against Japan as he continues to recover from a calf injury.

There was nothing pretty about North Korea's 1-0 win over United Arab Emirates in their quarter-final, Jong In-Gwan firing them into the last four in stoppage time to paper over the cracks of a tepid performance.

They will find Iraq a harder nut to crack, especially with the veteran Mahmoud showing glimpses of the form that helped the war-torn country win a shock Asian Cup title in 2007.

Previous sporting events involving the Korean neighbours have seen fans serenade each other, the North often choreographing tear-jerking songs performed by cheerleaders handpicked in Pyongyang for their fair-skinned beauty.

But a row over Seoul's refusal to foot the entire bill for the North's delegation prompted Pyongyang to withdraw its cheer-girls after initially threatening a boycott.