South Korea has signaled a green light for advancing to the Round of 16 with its second consecutive win at the 2026 FIVB U-17 Women's World Championship.

The South Korean U-17 women's volleyball national team, led by head coach Lee Seung-yeo, defeated Chinese Taipei with a set score of 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-13, 25-15) in their second Group D pool match held in Los Andes, Chile, on the 8th (Korean time). Following their win over Puerto Rico the previous day, the team swept 6 points to claim first place in the group.

A total of 24 nations are competing in this tournament, divided into four groups of six teams each for the pool stage, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the Round of 16 knockout stage.

On this day, Son Seo-yeon (Sunmyung Girls' High School), dubbed the 'Little Kim Yeon-koung,' exploded for a game-high 17 points to lead the offense. It was an all-around dominant performance that included 3 block points. Eo Min-seo (Hanbom High School) also contributed 10 points, including 2 service aces, while middle blockers Choi Min-ju (Gonghae Girls' Middle School) and Lee Da-yeon (Jungang Girls' High School) each added 8 points to disperse the scoring.

South Korea completely took control of the game flow from the third set with powerful serves and blocking, and secured the victory with stable management in the fourth set. Carrying over the momentum from defeating Chinese Taipei in last year's U-16 Asian Championship final, the team continued its winning ways on the world stage, proving the depth of the Asian champions.

South Korea will play its third pool match against Italy, currently second in the group, at 9:00 a.m. on the 9th. They will then face the Dominican Republic on the 11th and Algeria on the 12th, respectively.