An internal probe team of the Ministry of Education on Wednesday called for a prosecution investigation into former President Park Geun-hye and her officials over claims they pushed ahead with the adoption of the now-scrapped state-authored history textbooks by illegal means.

The ministry, now under the liberal Moon Jae-in government, recommended Park, her former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and his successor Lee Byung-ki be investigated for possible abuse of power and other violations of related laws.

The recommendation came as the probe team announced its outcome of a seven-month inquiry into its own ministry officials and others who were involved in what was one of the key policy initiatives of the former president.

In 2015, Park pushed for a revision of high school history textbooks that she claimed were "left-leaning." But her version sparked backlash from opponents who said they distort modern history in a way that glorifies the dictatorial rule of ex-leader and her father Park Chung-hee.

President Moon Jae-in scrapped the plan in the first month of his presidency that started in May, following Park's ouster over a corruption scandal.

A probe team under the new Moon government was launched in September last year to uncover any breach of law or unfair state intervention into the course of the thwarted project.

Preliminary results of the probe have found that Park's education ministry was allotted a budget of 4.38 billion won ($4 million) for the textbooks from the finance ministry, which only took a day to decide.

More than half of the amount was spent on promotion and marketing, against its original purpose of research and development.

The probe team on Wednesday unveiled that the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae took an organized mission to instruct the ministry as to how to execute the budget for advertising and select experts with conservative viewpoints for the compilation committee.

The probe team called on the education minister to demand a prosecution investigation into Kim Sang-yule, then senior presidential secretary for education and cultural affairs, on suspected abuse of power and violation of the law regarding public servants.

It also requested the ministry take disciplinary measures against officials who took part in the project or have them also subject to a criminal probe for possible charges of a violation of state contract law and breach of duty. (Yonhap)