South Korea lodged a complaint to Japan on Monday after Tokyo published its annual diplomatic policy book which includes a territorial claim over a group of disputed islets located in the East Sea (Sea of Japan).

Toshinao Urabe, deputy chief of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, was called in to hear the protest in a meeting with Park Joon-woo, director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's Asia- Pacific affairs bureau, South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported.

"It is obvious historically, geographically and in terms of international law that Dokdo is our native territory," Park was quoted as telling the Japanese diplomat. "We can never accept any kinds of Japanese claims over Dokdo."

Japan's territorial claim over the islets, called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, has made relations between the two neighboring countries worsen recently.

Japan's "Diplomatic Blue Paper," approved by the country's cabinet on last Friday, claims that Dokdo belong to Japan and the two countries should try to resolve the issue through friendly dialogue.

Earlier this month, new Japanese school textbooks were authorized with enhanced portrayals of Dokdo as Japan's.

South Korea insists Dokdo has been listed as its territory in history literature since the fifth century.

Now, the disputed rocky islets are under effectual control of South Korea who has deployed a garrison of coast police on the islets since 1954.

While Japan also claims the islets have been its territory since 17 century as written in literature.