The men's magazine Maxim is known for its risqué fashion spreads.

But this time, even the Korean editorial staff of the international publication admitted they had gone too far on Thursday, posting an apology on their website and yanking September issue of the magazine from shelves, following a public outcry over the cover photo.

"Maxim Korea's recent September 2015 issue made the mistake of including inappropriate photos and words in the article and back cover," the statement read.

"We also think that we have caused disappointment to those who have loved Maxim."

The now infamous shot featured character actor Kim Byung Ok, who appeared earlier this year in the Korean TV dramas "Mask" and "The Girl Who Sees Smells," with the bound legs of what is presumably supposed to be a naked female captive sticking out of the trunk of his car.

"Although we had no intention of romanticizing a criminal act in the process of conveying a crime scene in the magazine, whatever our intention was, we admit that this is completely our fault," the statement continued.

"We are currently reflecting on mistake and will voluntarily take action to recall all sales of the September issue in the country. Also, we will donate the total profits that have already come from the September issue towards the prevention of sexual assault and to advocating for women's rights issues."

The Maxim management's action came following an international backlash that prompted over 12,000 people to sign a petition on the community organizing website Avaaz.org entitled "Maxim Korea: Stop sexually fantasizing about crimes against women."

The petition, which included statistics on violence against women and gender equality across the world, tore into the magazine for what they felt was an image that made light of these issues.

"We condemn the editorial department of Maxim Korea for glamorizing violent criminals as charismatic, and reducing female victims to sexual jokes," the statement read.

"[Kim Byung Ok] who played the villains in the films 'The New World,' 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,' and 'Old Boy' is smoking with a frown on his face. Next to the man are a woman's legs, tied and stretched out from a car boot. The phrase reads, 'so girls like bad guys? This is what a bad guy looks like. Dying for him, right?'"

The petition also lashed out at Maxim Korea's media staff for originally telling Huffington Post writer Cavan Sieczkowski on Wednesday, "we did depict the crime of murder and body abandonment in a film noir way, but there's no hint of a sexual offense in the picture, and no fantasizing of sex crimes either."

Maxim Korea editor Lee Young Bi had attempted to throw water on the fire back on Aug. 22, when the controversy was first inflamed.

"The editing team aimed to cast [Kim] in an antagonistic role in a noir film," Lee said an official public statement, as reported on the Korean entertainment website allkpop.

"As you will be able to see from the total photo shoot, the theme cast murder and hiding bodies in a noir mood, but there is nothing about sexual assault. We did not romanticize sexual assault as a sexual fantasy."

For the petitioners, it only made things worse.

"As the cover came under fire, the editorial department came up with an insensitive and irresponsible excuse," the petition reads. "Maxim targets adult males and that's no secret. Sexual objectification of women is its daily work and expertise."

HuffPo reader Hannah Kim voiced her own disgust with the image in a comment posted to the site on Thursday.

"It is the worst case [of an inappropriate image] I have ever seen in magazine," she wrote. "Besides, the more terrible thing, is most of Korean men react to that as not a big deal."

While reader Kai Zen feels everyone is forgetting this is make-believe.

"[Kim] has played mostly villainous roles and is known for his "bad man" image, so I think the photo shoot was just following this concept, since the Korean entertainment industry always follows a concept for photos, music videos, songs, et cetera," she wrote.

"Since I follow Korean entertainment industry closely, I don't see the big deal about it. I do understand that the concept may not be in good taste, but I think people are blowing it out of proportion."