South Korean Prime Minster Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday announced that government-issued history textbooks for secondary education would be officially reinstated following the failure of the current private publication system even after four years into implementation.
"It is realistically impossible to author a correct history textbook under the current system. It is the government's conclusion that the privately-authored system has failed," Hwang said.
"We need to make a textbook based on objective facts, and true to the constitutional values."
He said current historical circles were dominated by Left-leaning scholars, and private publication could only create textbooks that were favourable to the leftists and North Korea.
The prime minister also dismissed concerns that the state textbooks will be biased, because "our mature society won't allow it".
The education ministry announced last month that it plans to revive the state history textbooks, which will be introduced in 2017.