Japan falls in tense qualifier

Playing before a capacity crowd at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, Pak gave the Koreans a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute with an angled header beyond the reach of Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa.

The match had no bearing on the outcome of the group - Japan has already qualified for the next stage while Korea DPR cannot make it - but there is always tension in this fixture between two nations that do not have diplomatic ties.

This was the first time the Japanese men's team had played on north Korean soil since 1989.

That tension bubbled over at times, with several shoving skirmishes breaking out.

Korea had Jong Il Gwan sent off in the 77th minute for an aggressive tackle on Atsuto Uchida.

"It was a very tough atmosphere for us," Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni said.

"The opposition was very physical, especially their forwards. We were already able to achieve our goal of qualifying but the opposition just had one thing to play for today."

Korea controlled the flow of play against a Japan team resting several of its regulars.

Tadanari Lee appeared to have equalised for Japan late in the second half but the goal was disallowed when Mike Havenaar was judged to be offside.

With many in the 50,000-seat Kim Il Sung Stadium holding up sheets of coloured cardboard, the match had the atmosphere of one of North Korea's mass games and after the match several Korean players ran onto the pitch waving the national flag.

The small contingent of Japanese fans was barely audible.

Four of the Korean players, including star striker Jong Tae Se, were born into ethnic Korean communities in Japan and bitterness still runs deep over Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea, which ended in 1945.

More than 200 Japanese citizens, including 150 fans and two dozen journalists, travelled to Pyongyang for the game - the largest Japanese delegation in years.

As a precaution, Tokyo sent a team of Japanese diplomats to Korea DPR to watch over them.