Igor Akinfeev seemed to have gifted the Koreans victory when he fumbled Lee Keun-Ho's shot into his own net, but Aleksandr Kerzhakov levelled with his first touch after appearing as a substitute to spare his goalkeeper's blushes.
Korea saw marginally more of the ball in the opening proceedings but chances were few and far between.
Son Heung-Min picked up a soft booking shortly after for a collision with Aleksandr Samedov, while Ki Sung-Yueng was also shown a yellow card for a robust challenge on the Russian midfielder.
Sergei Ignashevich thumped the resulting free-kick towards goal, but despite its power, Jung Sung-Ryong was able to fumble the 40-yard strike to safety.
The game started to open up somewhat once the clock ticked past the half-hour mark, as Yuri Zhirkov flashed a shot wide of the near post following a jinking run. At the other end, Koo Ja-Cheol's deflected 20-yard effort span inches wide of Akinfeev's left-hand post.
Five minutes before the break, Son controlled a Park knock-down and cut inside from the left flank, but the Bayer Leverkusen forward blazed his shot over the bar from the edge of the box.
Both sides came out in the second period with more attacking threat and Viktor Fayzulin forced Jung to tip the ball behind just 27 seconds after the restart. Vasili Berezutskiy nodded just wide of the near post from the resulting corner, but Korea soon wrestled back control of the game.
Hong Jeong-Ho sent a tame effort towards goal from Ki Sung-Yueng's accurate cross which Akinfeev collected with ease, but just a few minutes later the Russian goalkeeper made a glaring mistake.
Lee sent a powerful effort towards goal, but it was straight at the 28-year-old shot stopper, who should have claimed the strike with ease. However, the ball squirmed through his grasp and bounced over the line as a despairing Akinfeev tried to claw it away.
Fabio Capello sent on Kerzhakov as he searched for an equaliser and the substitution paid dividends within minutes.
Alan Dzagoev sent a low effort towards goal which Jung did well to save, but when Korea failed to clear, Kerzhakov reacted quickly and swivelled on the edge of the six-yard box to smash the ball home.
Dzagoev then had a chance to win the game ten minutes from time, but the midfielder dragged his shot wide from outside the area.
In injury time, Aleksandr Kokorin wriggled free down the left flank and pinged a cross towards Samedov at the far post, who couldn't keep his effort down and the teams had to settle for a point apiece.
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