A request from the authors of six history textbooks to nullify a government order to amend them for containing ideological bias was turned down again by an appeals court Tuesday.

In December 2013, the Ministry of Education had ordered the publishers of the books to revise 41 parts of their descriptions because they contained expressions and views that could "negatively affect students' perspective of history."

The authors of the books filed a lawsuit against the order a few days later, claiming that it had no legal ground and that the authority bypassed the official process required to change the content of the books.

The Seoul High Court, however, upholding a lower court's decision, said the process was legitimate and reasonable.

"Out of 829 parts that were under review, only 41 were ordered to be modified," Judge Ji Dae-woon said.

The amendment order had come after some left-leaning historians asked the government to ban a textbook they thought contained a conservative bias.

They criticized the textbook published by Kyohak Publishing Co. for being partial to Japan, which colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45, and for glorifying South Korea's past authoritarian governments.

There are eight types of history textbooks in South Korea.

While ordering Kyohak to revise some parts of its textbook, the Ministry of Education subsequently ordered the other seven textbooks, which had already been approved, to be modified.

Historians were asked to clarify details about the 1950-53 Korean War; North Korea's "juche," or self-reliance, ideology; and the 2010 torpedoing of a South Korean warship by North Korea, among other items. (Yonhap)