SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has accused rival South Korea of sickening its players with "adulterated foodstuff" ahead of last week's World Cup qualifier and wants soccer's world governing body to investigate the claim.

The North's soccer association also claimed that the alleged food-poisoning is part of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's "moves for confrontation" with the North.

North Korea coach Kim Jong Hun had raised the allegation after losing 1-0 to South Korea on April 1.

"It was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as they could not get up all of a sudden just before the match," a statement from the North said late Sunday, expanding on complaints which Kim made in the wake of the loss.

Kim had asked for the match to be delayed and moved to a neutral venue, claiming three of his players had food poisoning, but FIFA rejected the request. The Korea Football Association, the South's soccer federation, said a professional sports doctor had examined the North Korean players and found no serious problem. More detailed examinations, including blood tests, were refused.

"The Korea Football Association is only responsible for the matter of safety in training grounds and the stadium and thus cannot officially comment on matters outside of its scope," Lee Won-jae, KFA's head of public relations, said Monday.

The match was played amid frayed ties between the two Koreas since the conservative Lee took office last year with a pledge to get tough with the North.

It also came amid high tensions over Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch plan. The North fired the rocket over Japan on Sunday, claiming it was a satellite launch. But South Korean and U.S. officials said no object entered orbit.

The North's soccer association also renewed a complaint about the decision of the referee not to award a goal early in the second half of Wednesday's game, claiming star striker Jong Tae-se's header crossed the goal line before it was saved. Television replays were inconclusive.

"The match thus turned into a theater of plot-breeding and swindling," said the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "It is as clear as noonday that it was a product of the Lee Myung Bak group's moves for confrontation with the DPRK and a deliberate behavior bred by the unsavory forces instigated by it."

DPRK is the abbreviation for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

South Korea's win put the 2002 World Cup semifinalists atop Group B in Asian qualifying with 11 points, one point ahead of North Korea in the five-team group.

Associated Press Writer Jae Hee Suh contributed to this report.