The administration of US President Donald Trump on Monday released the FBI's surveillance records of late civil rights activist and Nobel laureate Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968.

This comes despite the King family's opposition to the files — which include some 240,000 pages — being released.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s two living children, Martin III and Bernice, said the issue is personal for them, adding that the files need to be viewed within "full historical context."

MLK's family calls for 'empathy'

According to the two, King's death has been "an intensely personal grief" for the civil rights icon's wife, children and the granddaughter he never met, "an absence our family has endured for over 57 years."

The family asked those reading the files to do so with "empathy, restraint and respect" for the family's grief.

The King family had early access to the files, with their own family's teams having the ability to review them.

The King Center, founded by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow Coretta Scott King, called the release of the files "unfortunate and ill-timed" due to the "pressing issues and injustices" in the US and around the world.

'Desparate attempt'

According to a statement released by the Center, which is now led by MLK's daughter Bernice, the fight against injustice "should be our collective response" to the renewed attention to his killing, calling MLK a "great purveyor of true peace."

Bernice King took to her personal Instagram account to post a photo of her father, adding the caption "Now, do the Epstein files," referring to deceased billionaire and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Reverend Al Sharpton, a prominent voice for civil rights in the US, called the release of the files a "desperate attempt to distract people" from the Epstein files and US President Trump's possible involvement in them.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher