Members of the North Korean football team at training in Tokyo?s National Stadium on Monday. North Korea and Japan will face each other in a World Cup qualifier at Saitama Stadium on Wednesday. (AFP)

Hong Kong: After 40 years out of the spotlight, North Korea will be thrust back onto footballing centrestage on Wednesday as the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup gets underway.

The reappearance of North Korea, who famously stunned Italy in their one previous World Cup appearance in 1966, has garnered most attention as eight teams prepare to do battle for the four automatic qualifying places on offer.

North Korea sat out of qualifiers for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, reportedly on the orders of the Stalinist nation?s eccentric ruler Kim Jong-il, after the team failed to reach the 1994 finals.

But they returned successfully to come through preliminaries last year and are seen as potential wild cards in group B that also includes Asian champions Japan, powerhouses Iran and fast-improving Bahrain.

The North Koreans, who will play their home qualifying matches on artificial turf at the Kim Il-Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, open their campaign against Japan in Saitama outside Tokyo on Wednesday.

The match takes place against a backdrop of simmering political tension between Japan and North Korea, with relations strained by a row over cold war kidnappings of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

The intrigue surrounding the North Koreans was heightened last week when they played a warm-up match in China on a pitch surrounded by tarpaulin screens to keep out prying eyes.

South Korean media reported North Korean players had even taken to donning disguises when venturing out of their team hotel in order to elude the attentions of Japanese journalists.

Coached by former international Yun Jong-su, North Korea are hoping to emulate South Korea?s heroics at the 2002 World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals on home soil.

?They didn?t have extraordinary players,? the 43-year-old national hero said of the rival South Koreans. ?But as hosts, they were united as one in supporting the team,? he added.

Japan coach Zico, meanwhile, goes into the game minus three key Europe-based stars ? captain and former Asian player of the year Hidetoshi Nakata, midfield dynamo Junichi Inamoto and playmaker Shinji Ono.

Despite North Korean attempts to masks their preparations, Zico insists Japan will be well-prepared.

?What we really don?t know about them is just the starting line-up against us,? said the Brazilian legend.

A victory for Japan on Wednesday will put them well on the road to clinching one of the top two places in group B.

Iran, finalists in 1998 but beaten in a play-off with Ireland for a place in the 2002 tournament, have a score to settle with Bahrain in Wednesday?s other group B game in Manama.

The Iranians lost 1-3 to Bahrain in qualifying four years ago, a result which effectively led to their elimination.

In group A, meanwhile, 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea will be seeking to maintain one of the proudest records in Asian football when they open against Kuwait in Seoul.

The South Koreans have played in every World Cup since 1986, but have struggled to recapture their magical 2002 form in the years since.

Saudi Arabia, attempting to reach their fourth consecutive World Cup finals, complete the group A line-up along with former Soviet Republic Uzbekistan, who they meet in Tashkent on Wednesday.

The group winners and runners-up qualify automatically for the World Cup, while the two third-placed teams meet in play-off to determine who advances to a further play-off against the fifth placed side from Concacaf qualifying zone.