The world football governing body FIFA decided on Friday to play the June 8 qualifier against Japan in a third country and without spectators.

But Japanese officials are wary about the prospect of playing in China after recent violent anti-Japanese demonstrations swept through Chinese cities.

"We will express our wish to FIFA and Malaysia would be the best," Saburo Kawabuchi, president of the Japan Football Association, told a news conference.

"We can hardly say there would be no problem if it is played in China under the present circumstances," he said, adding that he would object to a match in China, a close ally and neighbour of North Korea.

Demonstrators attacked Japanese diplomatic and business facilities in Chinese cities earlier this month, protesting what they called Japan's wrong perceptions of its militarist past.

Angry Chinese supporters also burned Japanese flags and confronted armed riot police after their side crashed 3-1 to defending champions Japan in the Asian Cup final last year.

FIFA said it would announce the substitute venue to North Korea in "due course" and the FIFA sanction can be appealed within three days. It also fined the North Korean football association 16,800 dollars.

The venue shift and fine was in response to North Korean players who jostled the referee and fans who threw chairs, bottles and other objects onto the pitch when their team lost to Iran 2-0 at home on March 30.

FIFA also cited trouble at North Korea's match against Bahrain on March 26.

Kawabuchi said Japan would provide financial support to North Korea in playing the match on neutral ground "if they request our support".

The Japanese FA chief also warned that without spectators "it is undoubtedly going to be a match which will hardly provide much motivation".

But the venue switch is widely seen here as a boon to the Japanese who are unfamiliar with the infamous artificial pitch at Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Stadium.

The Japanese association had planned to increase the number of studs in the shoes from 13 to 15 to cope with the hard surface.

Japan have a sentimental attachment to Kuala Lumpur's Johor Bar stadium where they clinched a dramatic victory over Iran in a 1997 playoff and won their first ever ticket to the World Cup finals.

Japan coach Zico said he had no preference as to the host country. "We can have a good match if there is a pitch which is ordinary by Japanese standards."

About the absence of spectators, the Brazilian said, "I have never experienced it myself. We have no choice but train with the new situation in mind, including the problem of concentration".

"The team are prepared to produce a result under any circumstances," he added.

An official from the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Federation in Japan said FIFA's decision "is the worst possible situation".

The federation is run by the Pyongyang-controlled General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, and the official told AFP: "I believe our country will file a protest in some form with FIFA."