North Korea qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1966 following a goalless draw in Saudi Arabia watched by 66,000 fans, BBC reported.
Iran's failure to defeat South Korea in Seoul earlier meant that North Korea only needed a draw in Riyadh.
They join South Korea, Australia and Japan as Asia's four automatic qualifiers for South Africa 2010.
North Korea's Kim Yong-jun was sent off in the fifth minute of injury-time, but by then his team were all but through.
In the 1966 event in England North Korea famously defeated Italy at Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park. And in the quarter-finals they led Portugal 3-0 at one stage before going down 5-3 as Eusebio inspired a remarkable comeback at Goodison Park.
In Wednesday evening's match, North Korea found themselves under a lot of pressure but they held firm at the King Fahd International Stadium. The Saudis threatened from the start, but were unable to capitalise on a number of scoring opportunities.
Saudi Arabia will get another chance to progress after finishing third in Group B to advance to the Asian play-offs, where they face Bahrain. They will play each other over two legs in September, with the winners advancing to a home-and-away play-off against Oceania winners New Zealand in October and November.