Maxim Korea Apologizes For The Controversial Cover of Its September 2015 Issue, Editors Admit They Have Gone Too Far

The cover featured actor Kim Byeong Ok standing next to a car with a slightly opened trunk, showing a woman's legs tied with duct tape.

Aside from that, the headline said, "The Real Bad Guy." Yonhap News noted on Friday that more photos of Kim portraying a murderer attempting to cover his tracks were found inside the men's magazine.

Maxim Korea, the South Korean edition of the US-based magazine, first denied the allegations of glorifying violence against women. But it drew so much ire from international media.

Korean netizens expressed their anger in social media over the issue, which they thought gaves the impression of romanticizing kidnap and assault. Well-known news sources and publications worldwide - such as Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Life & Style, Jezebel, among others - also slammed the September cover.

Because of the negative attention, Editor-in-chief Lee Young Bi released a statement.

"We made a mistake of publishing inappropriate photos and a headline in our September 2015 issue."

"We never intended on idealizing criminal activities, but whatever our intentions, we were completely wrong."

Lee also said that the revenue generated from the September issue's sales would be donated directly to non-profit organizations that advocate women's rights.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the US edition of the magazine condemned the September issue.

"The cover and corresponding feature published by Maxim Korea is deeply troubling," the spokesperson told The Huffington Post in a statement. "We condemn it in the strongest terms."

Around 10,000 signed the petition since August 26 through Avaaz.org to stop the distribution of Maxim Korea's latest issue.

As of late, Maxim Korea has pushed through with the publication of a September issue, but this time with another cover.