France lead North Korea 1-0 after 45 minutes of Olympic Group G football.
It was France who started the better and Louisa Necib twice came close to opening the scoring with just three minutes on the clock.
The French continued to dominate as the opening half developed, and Wendie Renard fired wide from a corner after 24 minutes.
Korea's best chance of the first period fell to Ye Gyong Ri moments later, but she fired wide with Sarah Bouhaddi out of position.
Chances remained few and far between in the latter stages of the half, although Gaetane Thiney fired just wide for France before the interval.
The goal eventually came for France courtesy of a Laura Goerges header moments before the interval.
