A court on Thursday ordered the South Korean government to disclose guidelines for the controversial state-authored history textbooks to be introduced next year.

In August, activist lawyer Cho Young-sun filed a suit with the Seoul Administrative Court, after the Ministry of Education rejected his request to reveal the guidelines saying the disclosure could hinder fair execution of its duty and research.

The court, however, ruled in favor of Cho, a member of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society.

Regardless of the ruling, the ministry plans to unveil the draft version of the new textbooks, writing guidelines and the list of writers on Monday.

In November last year, the government announced it would revise the current textbook publication system so that middle and high school students will learn Korean history through national textbooks starting in the 2017 school year.

Currently, history textbooks for secondary schools are published by eight private publishing companies and are subject to government approval for use, while primary schools have a single set of state-authored history textbooks.

The decision sparked a nationwide protest from opponents who said it could lead to the glorification of former dictators of the country, including late President Park Chung-hee, the father of President Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap)