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South Korea national football team captain Son Heung-min roars after scoring the opening goal with a right-footed free kick in the 6th minute of the first half with the match tied 0-0, setting a new record for the most international goals scored by a Korean player, during a national team friendly match against Uzbekistan presented by Hana Bank at Yongin Mireu Stadium on the 6th. / Yonhap

Son Heung-min (34, LAFC) fired home his 59th international goal in his 151st career appearance wearing the national team crest, setting a new all-time scoring record for a Korean player in senior internationals.

South Korea national football team captain Son Heung-min struck the opening goal with a right-footed free kick in the 6th minute of the first half with the match deadlocked at 0-0 during a national team friendly against Uzbekistan presented by Hana Bank at Yongin Mireu Stadium on the 6th. Receiving a through ball from Hwang Hee-chan (30, Schalke 04) in the midfield, Son drove forward and unleashed a right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty arc that struck an opponent's arm, resulting in a handball infraction and a free kick. Stepping up to take the set piece from inside the arc, Son curled a low, right-footed drive past the defensive wall that tucked neatly into the bottom right corner of the net.

With this strike, Son surpassed legendary former national team manager Cha Bum-kun (136 matches, 58 goals) to write a brand new chapter in Korean football history.

Including women's football, the all-time scoring record for a South Korean international belongs to Ji So-yun (35, Suwon FC Women), who has tallied 76 goals in 182 appearances.

Making his senior international debut at age 18 in a December 2010 friendly against Syria, Son savored his debut international goal in just his third appearance during an AFC Asian Cup group-stage match against India in November of the following year.

The first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot, Son has featured in four consecutive World Cup tournaments—from Brazil in 2014 to this year's North America tournament—tallying three goals to tie Ahn Jung-hwan and Park Ji-sung as South Korea's joint all-time top World Cup goalscorer. Furthermore, upon earning his 137th cap in an October friendly against Brazil last year, he rewrote the record for the most appearances by a Korean male international, surpassing the previous mark of 136 caps jointly held by Cha and former national team manager Hong Myung-bo.

After featuring in all three group-stage matches at the North America World Cup without finding the back of the net, keeping his tally parked at 56 goals, Son reignited his scoring form with a spectacular free kick against Ecuador on the 24th of last month (a 3-0 victory) in interim manager Robert Moreno's debut match in charge. He then followed up with another goal against Uruguay on the 28th (a 1-4 loss) to draw level with the all-time scoring record for a Korean international.

In the match against Uruguay, where he was credited with a goal in the 35th minute of the second half by steering home Lee Kang-in's (25, Atletico Madrid) cross with a first-time right-footed strike, Son remarked after the match, "I don't think it was my goal. I didn't feel any contact," adding, "If that goal gets credited to my name, I think I would feel a bit uneasy about it."

Meanwhile, combining his club career, Son's total career haul in official competitive fixtures has reached 301 goals. Currently having netted 20 goals in the colors of U.S. club Los Angeles FC, Son has tallied 242 goals across official club matches, including previous stints with Germany's Hamburg (20 goals) and Bayer Leverkusen (29 goals), as well as England's Tottenham Hotspur (173 goals).

                                                                                                             Cho Sung-jun