Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, 331 kilometers southeast of Seoul, applied for the use of the textbook and subsequently became the only school designated by the government to use it this year.

The parents filed a suit with the Daegu District Court earlier this month seeking the cancellation of the designation, and made a request to the court to suspend the adoption pending the court's ruling. The plaintiffs claimed that the head of the school's foundation and the principal unilaterally applied for the designation.

The conservative Park Geun-hye administration introduced the book to correct what it viewed as a left-leaning, pro-North Korea bias in private publishers' textbooks.

The new textbook, however, has been slammed by critics for glorifying the military regime of Park's father Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country for 18 years after a coupe until he was assassinated in 1979.

The textbook is to formally go into use next year. (Yonhap)