TOKYO -- The Korean Residents Union in Japan on Tuesday demanded Tokyo metropolitan education board to reverse its decision to adopt a controversial history textbook for use at some high middle schools in Tokyo.

The union said in a statement that it will urge the education board to reverse its decision Tuesday to use the history-distorting textbook from April next year.

Earlier in the day, the Tokyo metropolitan education board formally decided to adopt the controversial history textbook in 24 junior high schools for frail and mentally handicapped children and two branch schools, all run by the metropolitan government.

"We will urge Japanese society not to adopt this textbook any more," the statement said.

In the statement, the Korean Residents Union asked why the Tokyo education board "imposes a textbook, which has caused international controversy, on handicapped students who are supposed to receive protection from society."

The group also said it is greatly concerned about the future of Korean children living in Japan as well as Japanese children.

The textbook, which drew strong protest and condemn from Japan's Asian neighbors for its beautification of Japan's past aggressions during the World War II, was complied by a group of scholars from the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform and published by Fuso Publishing Inc.