<p>SEOUL &mdash; South Korea moved atop its World Cup qualifying group on Thursday without kicking a ball after FIFA voided all results involving North Korea.</p>
<p>North Korea had collected eight points in Group H before withdrawing from the remaining qualifiers, scheduled in June, citing concerns over COVID-19.</p>
<p>FIFA’s ruling drops Turkmenistan, which beat North Korea 3-1 in November 2019, from first to third with six points, one behind South Korea and Lebanon. Sri Lanka remains pointless.</p>
<p>Only the eight group winners and four best second-place teams will progress to the third round, scheduled to start in September.</p>
<p>North Korea’s mid-May withdrawal will alter how those runners-up spots are ranked, according to the Asian Football Confederation.</p>
<p>"After the conclusion of all the matches in the Asian qualifiers, the results of the matches between the second-placed and the fifth-placed teams in Groups A to G would not be counted to ensure a balanced final comparison between all group runners-up,” the AFC said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon and Uzbekistan now occupy the top four places in the revised runner-up rankings above Bahrain, China, Tajikistan and Malaysia.</p>
<p>Qualification for the World Cup resumes on Friday when Japan hosts Myanmar in the first of 57 games remaining before the second round ends on June 15.</p>
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