The young Gers enjoyed the better of the opening period, but they found themselves trailing at the interval following a smart finish from the South Korean side.
Jeonbuk continued their clinical streak to extend their advantage in the second half, with Archie Stevens’ second goal of the tournament proving to be in vain for the Light Blues.
It was a lively start from Rangers who worked a promising opening inside three minutes. Paul Nsio showed impressive vision to poke a through pass into James Graham, although the 19-year-old could only steer his finish wide of the far post.
Graham looked to create danger once again in the eighth minute when he took aim from 25 yards after the ball arrived to him in space, but he could not keep his strike under the crossbar.
Rangers certainly weren’t lacking in endeavour in the opening exchanges, almost breaking the deadlock when Connor Young met Cameron Scott’s cut-back and his powerful effort was denied by Han.
The South Korean opposition weren’t posing much of an attacking threat, but they slowly began to creep their way into the game when a near post free-kick from the left-hand side required Greig Thackray to be alert.
The opening goal soon followed for Jeonbuk when Changhun kim skipped inside on the left-hand side and curled an unerring finish into the bottom corner.
Drama then ensued when the referee pointed to the penalty spot and Thackray was sent to the sidelines for mistiming a challenge on the edge of the penalty area. Mason Munn was summoned from the substitutes bench, although he wasn’t formally called into action as Junho Lee clipped the resulting penalty onto the crossbar.
The Light Blues were rueing their fortune just minutes into the second half when Findlay Curtis swept Nsio’s lay-off onto the far post from the edge of the penalty area.
The action was all one way, but an equaliser continued to prove elusive for the young Gers as Kerr Robertson fired off target from a central area after being teed up on the edge of the danger area.
A second goal of the afternoon arrived for Jeonbuk against the run of play on 33 minutes when Kyudong Lee received on the left-hand and struck powerfully through the legs of Thackray.
The South Korean side then stretched their advantage with 11 minutes remaining following a smart finish from Seokjin Han on the edge of the penalty area.
However, Rangers were in no mood to be deterred by the size of the task ahead of them, pulling a goal back through Stevens after the Englishman showed tremendous persistence to hold off a pair of opposing defenders and fire under the Jeonbuk goalkeeper from close range.
A fourth goal of the game arrived with virtually the last action of the contest for Jeonbuk as Changhun kim netted for the second occasion by rounding Thackray and slotting into an unguarded net.
RANGERS: Thackray, Wyllie, Webster, Allan (Hutton, 23), Scott (Wark, 29), Strachan (Robertson, 26), Nsio (Stewart, 31), Curtis (Stevens, 35), Stevens (Munn, 20; Eadie, 27), Graham (Willox, 18), Young (Adamson, 23)
JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS: Han, Jin, H. Lee, Hong, W. Lee, J. Lee, Noh, Kim, Ryu, K. Lee, Kim
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