It was the first meeting between the two nations, which remain technically at war amid ongoing political tensions, since 2017.

However, Bell claimed that the match, which was held at the Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium in Wenzhou, was "absolutely destroyed" by French match official Pansa Chaisanit.

South Korea spent more than 30 minutes of the match with a player down after Son Hwa-yeon received a second yellow card for a foul on North Korea’s goalkeeper Kim Uni.

It proved to be a pivotal moment in the match with the team level at 1-1 at the time after going ahead thanks to an An Myong-Song own goal before Ri Hak equalised.

With a player advantage, North Korea cruised to victory thanks to late goals from Ri, An and Kim Kyong-yong.

"It started off really well for us," said Bell in a report by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"North Korea equalised but we were still really in the game.

"The goalkeeper comes out with the fists out of the five-metre area.

"There's maybe a bit of contact and the referee decides to take charge of the game and absolutely destroy what was potentially a brilliant match.

"I asked the fourth official if the referee was in the World Cup and the answer was no.

"And I think you can see why in this game.

"The game was great up until that card.

"That's a game changer and referees shouldn't influence the game.

"It's as simple as that."

South Korean player Ji So-yun also criticised the performance of the referee, claiming that he "influenced the match too much".

"I don't think I've ever played in such an unfair match in my whole career," said Ji.

"Son Hwa-yeon should never have been sent off.

"The officiating killed the flow of the match.

"We weren't perfect, but I don't think we would have lost if we had 11 players."

The defeat extends South Korea’s sorry record against their neighbours having won just one of their past 16 encounters.

South Korea and North Korea are set to meet in the Asian qualifiers for next year’s Olympics in Paris later this month after being drawn in the same group.

The two sides were due to face each other in the third round of qualifying for Tokyo 2020 only for North Korea to pull out of the tournament in South Korea.

North Korea marched together with South Korea under a unified flag at the Opening Ceremony of Jakarta Palembang 2018 and competed under the title "Korea" in canoeing, rowing and women’s basketball.

But relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then.

The presence of North Korea's flag at the Games goes against World Anti-Doping Agency's ruling having declared the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Anti-Doping Committee (DPRK ADC) non-compliant in October 2021.

As a consequence, North Korea’s national flag cannot be flown at major sporting events other than the Olympic and Paralympic Games for as long as the DPRK ADC is non-compliant.