Japan edge past North Korea

Japan beat North Korea 1-0 Saturday in the East Asian Championship amid serious tensions between the two nations.

There were doubts the game could even go ahead against such a backdrop, with North Korean nationals currently banned from entering Japan as part of the sanctions against Pyongyang. Special visas were issued at the Japanese embassy in Beijing earlier in the week. Yosuke Ideguchi scored in injury time to deliver hosts Japan victory in front of more than 20,000 fans, including pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans living in Japan, who chanted and waved North Korean flags.