South Korea plans to conduct a worldwide survey of maps next year to assess how they describe the names of its easternmost islets of Dokdo and the East Sea, the waters separating it from Japan, an official said Friday.

The planned survey comes as diplomatic tensions with Japan have escalated in the past months after President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit in August to Dokdo, which is also claimed by Tokyo. Lee cited Japan’s unrepentant attitude for its brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula as a key reason for the trip.

South Korea and Japan have been also at odds over the name of waters between the two nations with Tokyo championing the name of the “Sea of Japan” over South Korea’s use of the “East Sea.”

“The government plans to conduct surveys next year to see how maps in foreign countries describe the names of Dokdo and the East Sea to assess its efforts over the names,” the foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The survey of maps will be conducted by diplomats at South Korea’s overseas missions, the official said.

South Korea has conducted such surveys on the name of East Sea, but it will be the first time a survey of worldwide maps on the name of Dokdo is conducted, according to the official.

In a 2009 survey of 944 foreign maps, it found that 28.7 percent of the maps used the name the East Sea as well as the Sea of Japan.

Japan’s territorial claim to Dokdo has been viewed by South Koreans as a sign Tokyo has not fully repented for its imperialist past. (Yonhap News)