One school in the country has volunteered to use a set of state-authored history textbooks, the education ministry said Monday, highlighting the controversy surrounding the program advocated by impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, 331 kilometers southeast of Seoul, applied to use the textbooks in the new academic year starting in March, the ministry said. Some 1,800 other middle and high schools did not apply even though the government offered merit points for teachers and a 10 million won ($8,800) subsidy for schools that volunteered to run the pilot program ahead of the books' formal release next year.

Park's conservative administration introduced the textbooks to correct what it viewed as a left-leaning, pro-North Korea bias in private publishers' textbooks. But the new books have been slammed by liberals as an attempt to glorify the military regime of Park's father Park Chung-hee who ruled the country for 18 years until his assassination in 1979.

Two other high schools expressed their wish to run the program but withdrew their applications following protests from students and parents. Students of Munmyeong High School have also staged protests demanding the application's withdrawal.

All three schools are located in North Gyeongsang Province, the political home turf of Park.

The ministry blamed the dismal adoption rate on liberal civic groups and a progressive teachers' union, whom they accused of visiting schools to stop them from adopting the textbooks.

Education Minister Lee Joon-sik earlier warned that the government could take legal action against them on charges of trespassing or obstruction of duty.

The ministry said it plans to distribute the textbooks for free to schools that still wish to use them as supplementary educational materials. Those who wish to use them can apply by March 3.

Critics argued the measure was an attempt to bypass school procedures and force the state-authored textbooks upon students.

"Various materials other than textbooks are currently in use in classrooms," said Park Seong-min, a ministry official handling the textbook program. "We will provide the state-authored textbooks to schools that wish to use them after determining their demand independently from education offices."

The textbooks will also be made available online for the public.

A civic group with a name that translates to "Resistance Network Against State-Authored Korean History Textbooks," billed the low adoption rate as a "death sentence" for the books.

"Students and parents of Munmyeong High School are strongly demanding the withdrawal of the state-authored textbooks," a group member said during a press conference held outside the main government complex in Seoul. "If Munmyeong High School withdraws its decision, the state-authored textbooks will be displayed as relics in museums along with their adoption rate of zero percent." (Yonhap)