South Korea defeated Uruguay for the first time on Friday despite Tottenham's Son Heung-min seeing a penalty saved at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Jung Woo-young scored their winning goal with 11 minutes remaining, sending a capacity 64,000-strong crowd into raptures, after Matias Vecino had cancelled out Hwang Ui-jo's 71st-minute opener.
But South Korea had an earlier opportunity to seize the advantage just after the hour mark when Sebastian Coates fouled Hwang in the area.
Son stepped up to take the penalty and Fernando Muslera saved the spot-kick only for Hwang beat Martin Caceres to the ball to poke home the rebound.
But Uruguay levelled five minutes later when Kim Young-gwon missed his tackle on Arsenal's Lucas Torreira, who burst into the box and teed up the unmarked Vecino for a straightforward goal.
Korea claimed victory with 10 minutes remaining when Suk Hyun-jun headed down a corner that deflected off the foot of Edinson Cavani to Jung, who fired home.
It was Korea's first victory over Uruguay in eight attempts - having lost six of them - and is a major boost in their preparations for the Asian Cup in January.
They will continue their build-up against Panama on Tuesday, while Uruguay remain in the region to take on Japan.