In a vote which was held during a meeting of FIFA's Executive Committee in Brazil Thursday (local time), South Korea edged out Azerbaijan to win the right to host the tournament, officials said.
Twenty-four countries will compete in the 21st edition of the tournament since its inception in 1977.
The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be held in New Zealand. The event is held every two years.
The Korea Football Association (KFA), the country's governing body of the sport, has chosen nine candidates to host matches in summer of 2017. They are Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Suwon, Ulsan, Jeonju, Jeju, Cheonan and Pohang.
Six to eight finalists will be selected from among the nine candidates by the end of 2014, the KFA said.
South Korea has never won the FIFA U-20 World Cup. In the 1983 tournament in Mexico, South Korea finished in fourth place, failing to advance to the semi-finals.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com