The authors of Korean history textbooks announced Thursday that they will not comply with the Ministry of Education’s order to make revisions.

The ministry Monday ordered the publishers of all eight recently approved history textbooks to make changes amid disputes over a book from Kyohak Publishing Co for its allegedly slanted depiction of the country’s modern history.

Revision and supplementation were ordered for 829 parts, including passages regarding Japan’s forced sexual enslavement of Korean women.

“We can’t follow the education minister’s order since (the revision of history textbooks) is beyond his authority,” the group of authors from seven publishers, excluding Kyohak, said in a joint statement.

The authors accused the ministry’s decision as being “suspicious” to defend the controversial book from Kyohak Publishing Co, despite growing calls from opposition lawmakers and progressive scholars to cancel it.

They noted, however, that they would make corrections if any errors found through their own revision until the end of this month. The eight textbooks were approved in August by the National Institute of Korean History, commissioned by the ministry. The textbooks will be used in high schools from next year.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)