Strikers Atsushi Yanagisawa and Masashi Oguro were the heroes for Japan, securing their team's tickets to Germany with second-half goals that ensured their team would finish in the top two of the Asian zone's Group B.

Yanagisawa struck first with a stretching toe-poke in the 73rd minute, while Oguro capped the night with a delightful solo effort, driving down the right to beat North Korean goalkeeper Kim Myong-Gil in the 89th minute.

Although Japan still have to play one more match against Iran in August, the top two teams automatically qualify for Germany 2006. The Asian champions were the first team of any region to qualify due to the time difference.

For North Korea, winless after five qualifying matches, the loss ended any chance they had of making the World Cup.

Despite the high stakes, the match had a distinctly anti-climactic feel as it was played in front of an empty Supachalasai Stadium as punishment for crowd trouble during North Korea's home loss to Iran in March.

North Korea's last chance at qualifying ended on an especially sour note with Kim Yong-Su given a red card in the dying minutes of the game.

Japan's coach, Brazilian legend Zico, praised his team's mental strength in overcoming the unusual circumstances.

"Of course technique and tactics are important, but the thing that was most important was we had to be strong mentally," Zico told reporters through an interpreter after the match.

Zico also admitted to concerns before the match that his players may relax too much, as a draw would have also been enough to secure a finals spot.

"It was a very difficult situation... in those type of circumstances it can be very dangerous if we lose our aggression. I kept telling our players not to lose their aggressiveness and to play offensively but also with good balance."

Zico, who has endured a barrage of criticism for recent team selections -- despite taking Japan to their second consecutive Asian title last year -- barely raised a smile during the press conference.

However he did thank everyone involved in helping the team reach the World Cup finals.

"I want to express my gratitude to Japan's football association, the coaching staff and of course the players," he said.

"At the same time I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the supporters."

Zico also took the opportunity to justify his leadership, emphasising his team had lost just one match -- to Iran in Tehran -- out of 11 World Cup qualifying matches.

"I am very proud of this result... it's a very decent result," he said.

In this final round of qualifying, Japan kicked off their run to Germany with an injury-time 2-1 home win over North Korea on February 9, lost 2-1 to Iran on March 25 then beat Bahrain by the same 1-0 scoreline at home and away on March 30 and June 3.

Japan will be competing in their third consecutive World Cup after making the second round in front of their home fans in 2002 following their debut finals appearance in France four years earlier.