It's becoming an all too familiar story.<br />South Korea has once again condemned Japan and lodged a complaint with Tokyo over its latest renewed territorial claim to Korea's easternmost Dokdo island.<br />This time, Japan's false claim came in a foreign policy document reported to the cabinet. <br />Watchers say such moves suggest Japan doesn't seem overly concerned about dampening the peaceful mood the region has been enjoying for the past few months.<br />Lee Ji-won explains. <br /> Japan has thrown a wet blanket over the recent reconciliatory mood springing up in East Asia.<br />In its annual foreign policy document, the "Diplomatic Bluebook," it has once again repeated its false claim to South Korea's easternmost Dokdo Island, saying Dokdo is "illegally occupied by South Korea.<br />It was a move that was immediately denounced on Tuesday by Seoul's foreign ministry.<br /><br /> "Our government strongly protests against Japan's 'Diplomatic Bluebook' having repeated this claim to South Korea's sovereign territory of Dokdo, and it strongly urges Tokyo to immediately drop the claim."<br /><br />The spokesperson said Seoul reiterates that the claim is "futile" and has no impact whatsoever on South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo, which is justified historically, geographically and by international law.<br /><br /> He also said the claim is "unjustified and absurd," and warned that it will only hinder the development of Seoul-Tokyo ties.<br /><br /> In its bluebook, Japan also claimed again that the body of water between Japan and Korea should be called the "Sea of Japan," a name it said is the only one confirmed internationally.<br /><br />Seoul's foreign ministry called in the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Japanese Embassy, Koichi Mizushima, to lodge a formal complaint.<br />The complaint said in particular that Seoul cannot accept the "Sea of Japan" label, saying it is rightfully called the "East Sea," a name that has been used in Korea for over 2-thousand years.<br /><br /> The Japanese document urged Seoul to implement the so-called "comfort women agreement" reached in 2015, which was meant to provide support for the victims of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.<br />The deal did not take into consideration the opinions of the victims or include an official, sincere apology from Japan... and has been neglected for months.<br /><br /> While Japan's claims are not new, what's notable this year is that there is much more material related to Dokdo and the comfort women issue compared to last year. <br />It has also deleted a phrase that called South Korea Japan's "most important neighbor that shares strategic interests."<br /><br /> And doing little to build closer ties with North Korea, the document condemned the regime's nuclear tests and missile launches as severe threats and maintained its hardline stance.<br /><br /> "Ties between South Korea and Japan seemed to be on the mend since their three-way talks with China last week,... but observers say Japan's lack of repentance for its past war crimes could isolate it further on North Korea issues, espec
