South Korea must not make the error of showing bigger and more established teams too much respect in next year's World Cup, captain Son Heung-min warned.

South Korea, which was hammered 5-0 by five-time World Cup winner Brazil in an international friendly match last week, claimed a 2-0 home win over Paraguay on Tuesday.

"I think we have to pay attention to small details. And when we go up against strong teams, we have to think about how we can be more aggressive. For instance, I think we respected Brazil too much," Los Angeles FC forward Son told reporters.

"That had a big influence on the result. We now know it hurts to get punched like that, and we have to learn how to fight back. ... After a big loss like the one we had, players can feel discouraged, and it can show on the field.

"To see my teammates put that behind and pounce on their chances, I felt really grateful as their captain. The biggest key was we did our thing and executed our plan, regardless of what the other team was trying to do."

South Korea qualified for next year's World Cup finals in North America earlier this year.

It has qualified for every World Cup since 1986, reaching the semifinal in 2002 when it co-hosted the tournament with neighbor Japan.

During its run to the semifinal in 2002, South Korea beat Portugal, Italy and Spain before it was stopped by Germany.