Park's goal sparked wild South Korean celebrations
Thierry Henry gave France an early lead, latching on to Sylvain Wiltord's deflected shot to sidefoot home.
Patrick Vieira was denied a goal when his header was blocked by Korea keeper Lee Woon-Jae after it crossed the line, but the referee did not give the goal.
But with 10 minutes to go Park Ji-sung punished sloppy French defending.
The draw left South Korea top of Group G with four points, two ahead of France, who are in jeopardy of crashing out of the World Cup at the group stages for the second successive time.
France spurned two chances to score in a frenetic finale, Vieira ballooning the ball over the bar from a good position and Henry missing with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Henry had given France the perfect start
The 1998 winners had looked soporific in their opening game against Switzerland but Raymond Domenech's side gave an altogether more alert performance until they slackened off in the closing stages.
Malouda's return had much to do with France's improvement as les bleus played at a much quicker tempo than they had managed against the Swiss.
Just as importantly Vieira gave a more convincing performance as well in the centre of midfield for France.
France laid siege to the South Korean goal in the opening 10 minutes and Lee Woon-jae did well to come out and narrow the angle to prevent Sylvain Wiltord from scoring.
The South Korean goalkeeper had no chance of stopping France's next attack - Henry took one touch before he found the net with deadly precision.
France should have had a second goal when Vieira's header clearly crossed the line, despite Lee Woon-jae's desperate efforts to keep the ball out.
When the ball came out of the goal Malouda lunged to reach it and in doing so he was penalised for fouling Ho Lee.
For 75 minutes of the game South Korea's attacks had tended to peter out the nearer they got to France's goal.
Just before the interval France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had a momentary scare when Lee Chun-soo's free-kick went narrowly wide after it travelled through a packed penalty area.
Barthez was just as inactive for much of the second half but in the 81st minute when he was called on to be decisive he flapped in a desperately indecisive fashion.
Zidane was booked in late on and will now miss the next game
Seol Ki-Hyeon's deep cross from the right was headed back by Cho Jae-Jin and Park scooped the ball over Barthez and William Gallas.
Zinedine Zidane was then booked for France and will now miss the third match, possibly bringing down the curtain on his career in a way he could never have envisaged.
Having reached the semi-finals in 2002, South Korea had been written off in the build-up to Germany 2006, but Dick Advocaat's side are on the verge of reaching the last 16, exceeding all expectations.
France: Barthez, Abidal, Gallas, Thuram, Sagnol, Malouda (Dhorasoo 88), Vieira, Makelele, Zidane (Trezeguet 90), Wiltord (Ribery 60), Henry.
Subs Not Used: Boumsong, Chimbonda, Coupet, Diarra, Givet, Govou, Landreau, Saha, Silvestre.
Booked: Abidal, Zidane.
Goals: Henry 9.
South Korea: Woon-Jae Lee, Young-Chul Kim, Dong-Jin Kim, Choi, Young-Pyo Lee, Nam-Il Kim, Ji-Sung Park, Eul-Yong Lee (Seol 45), Ho Lee (Sang-Sik Kim 69), Chun-Soo Lee (Ahn 72), Jae-Jin Cho.
Subs Not Used: Baek, Won-hee Cho, Chung, Do-Heon Kim, Jin-Kyu Kim, Yong-Dae Kim, Young-Kwang Kim, Chu-Young Park, Song.
Booked: Ho Lee, Dong-Jin Kim.
Goals: Ji-Sung Park 81.
Att: 43,000.
Ref: Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico).
Fifa man of the match: Ji-Sung Park
TRIVIA
Thierry Henry's goal was the first by France in the World Cup since they beat Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final. Henry is now third on the competition's all-time scorers list for France with four goals. France have now equalled their all-time winless record of five World Cup matches, set between 1966 and 1978.
Lilian Thuram has equalled Marcel Desailly's record mark of 116 caps for France. The Juventus defender first represented 'Les Bleus' in a friendly draw (2-2) against Czech Republic on 17 August 1994. France put out the 11th oldest line-up ever in a World Cup match. They started with an average age of 30 years and 289 days. The average age of 31 years and 333 days of Germany's starting eleven in the 1998 World Cup fixture with Iran is the oldest ever recorded in World Cup finals.
South Korea became the first team in this tournament to come back from a goal down in two matches. They reversed a 1-0 scoreline in the first group match against Togo (2-1 win).
50px For 80 minutes France barely broke sweat as they slowly coasted to a 1-0 win in what seemed to be dreary mismatch in Leipzig, Sunday.

On 81 minutes France were punished for their complacency by a Korea Republic team that had never given up and that ended the last minutes of a strange match arguably the stronger side.


For most of the game Korea Republic, in an almost luminous red outfit were not in the game. Their three forwards hardly got a touch; in fact they didn't have a single shot in the first half and had only two on target in 90 minutes. 

By contrast the French had three times as many shots as the Koreans but managed only four accurate attempts on Lee Woon-Jae's goal - two more than the Koreans managed. A poor showing for a side so at ease it played mostly in its opposition's half of the pitch and did not concede a shot until the 54th minute.

All looked good when Henry had scored after nine minutes. The ball got through the defence via a deflection; and with a touch from his right foot the Arsenal striker put the ball into the perfect position to pass it in with his left.

With the great throng of red Koreans bouncing up and down and singing there was a great atmosphere in the Zentralstadion and it did not sound like their side were a goal down. 

A Patrick Viera header followed from a corner and was saved by Lee Woon-Jae. There was no great French appeal but the television replay clearly showed the ball had crossed the line. 

After half time the French kept to their slow passing game which made Dick Advocaat's hustling team exceptionally tired without killing them off. With ten minutes left the Korean game sprang to life and deckchairs were brought out to witness a mugging.

Eric Abidal brought down Lee Young-Pyo and got a yellow card. Quick Korean passes found their target and the French suddenly looked a little disorganised.

A cross from deep near the right corner flag from Seol Ki-Hyeon found Cho Jin-Jae. Beyond the far post, the substitute headed back into the path of Park Ji-sung who from five yards helped the ball over both Fabian Barthez and William Gallas. 

The slowness by which the ball went over a grasping Barthez and the French centre half was tantalising and made the score seem more painful.

Now there was a ripping end-to-end contest. Three minutes later Thierry Henry got a chance to make it 2-1 but Lee Woon-Jae jammed his arm hard on the ground for a magnificent left-handed save. In the final minute Ahn Jung-Hwan screamed a free kick past Barthez's right post.

The result meant France, who still had not won a game since the 1998 World Cup final, probably had to win their last match against Togo for a chance to reach the knock-out stage of the 2006 World Cup. Their captain Zinedine Zidane, who got a caution in the game, would be ruled out for that tie.

Korea Republic now lead Group G with 4 points and would certainly advance as group winner if they won their last game against Switzerland.