North Korean football in dock after ugly crowd scenes

The referee holds back North Korean player Nam Song Chol after a penalty decision. Wild scenes erupted in Pyongyang after North Korea lost their World Cup football qualifier to Iran, with angry fans throwing bottles and chairs at the referee and visiting team

North Korean football was in the dock after thousands of fans went on the rampage following a World Cup qualifier defeat by Iran, hurling bottles and chairs at players and officials.

Syrian referee Mohammed Kousa was stranded on the pitch for more than 20 minutes after the 2-0 defeat as tens of thousands of fans remained in the stadium, hurling objects on to the pitch.

The Iranian team was also trapped in the Kim Il-Sung stadium as a mob of thousands of fans gathered outside before eventually being dispersed by hundreds of police.

The ugly scenes heightened security fears for North Korea's home fixture with arch-rivals Japan in June, which thousands of Japanese fans are expected to attend.

The Japanese government on Thursday urged world governing body FIFA and the Japan Football Association to talk to the North Korean authorities.

"The premise for international games is players can play safely and spectators are protected," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman.

He said that Tokyo also wanted the Japan Football Association to "take measures on the safety of players and other aspects as many supporters may go there."

Match officials stand among chairs broken by angry North Korea fans. Wild scenes erupted in Pyongyang after North Korea lost their World Cup football qualifier to Iran, with angry fans throwing bottles and chairs at the referee and visiting team

Iran coach Branko Ivankovic, who said his players felt in physical danger after also being trapped on the pitch for 10 minutes, said he expected FIFA would act over the matter.

"I know for sure FIFA will do something. They have rules and try to do something about security and safety," he said.

"The relationship between Japan and Korea is specific and of course... maybe they will play without spectators but for sure it will not be easy for Japan."

Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship dating back to the Japanese occupation of the country between 1910 and 1945.

North Korea had already been planning to make an official complaint to FIFA over what it believed was unfair refereeing during its 2-1 loss to Bahrain here last week.

On Wednesday the isolated communist country's official media issued a two-line report giving the score from the Iran game and complaining about "wrong refereeing".

"At the end of the match all the spectators were angered and vigorously protested the wrong refereeing by the Syrian referee and linesmen," said the Korean Central News Agency.

The crowd trouble was sparked when the North Korean players surrounded referee Kousa, shoving him and screaming, after he rejected a late penalty appeal for handball.

The match was held up for five minutes, with the crowd hurling bottles from the stands, as Kousa retreated from the pack of players before finally restoring order and sending off defender Nam Song-Chol.

The final result effectively closed the door on North Korea's chances of participating in their first World Cup since 1966, when they surprisingly made the quarter-finals.