Gim Eun-ji releases the stone during the team's round-robin match against Sweden at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, March 20. Yonhap

Korea lost to Sweden in the women's curling world championship at home Thursday, its second defeat of the round-robin stage.

Skip Gim Eun-ji's 10th-ranked Korean crew lost to world No. 3 Sweden, led by skip Anna Hasselborg, 7-5 in their round-robin match at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.

Korea dropped to 7-2, tied in the win-loss record with Canada and Sweden. Switzerland leads the way at 8-1, after losing to Canada on Thursday.

Korea will take on Lithuania in the evening session Thursday.

The world championship features 13 teams, who will play each other once in the round robin. Then the top six will qualify for the playoff round. The two best teams will each receive a bye to the semifinals, and the remaining four teams will compete for the last two semifinal berths.

The qualification matches and the semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the bronze medal contest and the championship final Sunday.

Korea is seeking its first gold at the women's curling world championship after winning silver in 2022 and bronze in 2019 and 2024.

Korea is also poised to grab a spot at next year's Winter Olympics in Italy. The top seven teams in points earned from the 2024 and 2025 world championships will qualify for Milan, and Korea, not counting the host country Italy, is in third place after collecting 11 points with its bronze medal last year.

Korea and Sweden went back and forth, and Hasselborg's team held a 6-4 lead after seven ends.

After blanking the eighth end to keep the hammer for a big rally, Korea instead eked out just one point in the ninth end. Sweden closed out the win with the final point in the 10th end. (Yonhap)