FIFA's controversial decision to switch next month's World Cup qualifier between North Korea and Japan to Bangkok could have serious consequences far beyond the boundaries of sport. Alastair Himmer reports.
Soccer's world governing body formally pulled the plug on Japan's politically sensitive visit to Pyongyang last week after crowd trouble following North Korea's match with Iran in March.
The severity of North Korea's punishment came as a shock to the secretive communist state and dismayed many neutral observers.
"North Korea's footballers were just coming back from the wilderness," You Young-cheul, chief media officer for the Korea Football Association (KFA) in South Korea, told Reuters.
"FIFA should have considered the uniqueness of the situation in the region."
FIFA believes the punishment fits the crime. It traditionally takes a hard line on serious crowd disturbances and its president Sepp Blatter has written to FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Chung Mong-joon of South Korea saying the ruling is justified, and final.
However, the decision to hold the June 8 clash with Japan in a third country and behind closed doors could arguably do lasting damage to North Korea's development as an Asian soccer force.
More seriously, it could have political implications at a time when North Korea's relations with its East Asian neighbours and the United States are increasingly tense because of its nuclear weapons programme and boycott of talks on the crisis.
Given regional fears over North Korea's nuclear intentions and a long-running diplomatic row between Pyongyang and Tokyo, FIFA's timing could hardly have been worse.
Reports in the United States that North Korea may be preparing to conduct a nuclear weapons test have further heightened anxiety in northeast Asia.
Any hope of achieving a breakthrough in relations with North Korea, however small, through soccer - in much the same way as the "cricket diplomacy" between India and Pakistan - has been dashed for now.
Instead of offering an olive branch, FIFA's approach could further isolate the impoverished communist state, experts say.
"Soccer played an important role in promoting peace and co-operation," said You.
"If the game had gone ahead in Pyongyang it could have eased tensions between North Korea and Japan."
Fans reacted furiously after a late sending-off in North Korea's 2-0 defeat by Iran on March 30 and many threw bottles, stones and chairs in protest.
Soldiers moved in to restore calm as angry fans prevented Iran's team bus from leaving Kim Il-sung Stadium after the match in a rare display of public disorder.
The disturbances were far less serious than the riots that followed last year's Asian Cup final in Beijing, when armed police battled Chinese fans for hours.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) did not sanction China. That seems likely to exacerbate North Korea's sense of injustice - the North described the refereeing in the Iran match as "wicked".
AFC officials said last month that North Korea's politically charged clash with Japan would go ahead in Pyongyang as scheduled and they were stunned by FIFA's decision.
Japan lobbied to have the game moved because some officials feared their country's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula could have made their team a target in Pyongyang.
Beckenbauer's reaction
North Korea's state-run media blasted FIFA's punishment as "unjust", while Franz Beckenbauer, head of Germany's 2006 World Cup organising committee, also questioned the decision.
"Maybe FIFA is over-reacting," said Beckenbauer.
"The decision was made in Zurich so maybe FIFA didn't know exactly what happened. In my opinion, North Korea should have another chance."
North Korea's team have achieved little since their shock appearance in the quarter-finals of the 1966 World Cup in England.
The communist leadership has lavished cars, luxury apartments and cash on the team as an incentive to reach next year's tournament.
North Korea's hopes have all but vanished, however, after they lost their first three games in the final round of Asian 2006 qualifiers.