Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Maxim Korea's 'killer' cover under fire
Cover photo of Maxim Korea /Courtesy of Maxim Korea
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The concept of murder, featured in the photo on the cover of men’s magazine Maxim Korea, has ignited controversy.
In the photo, actor Kim Byung-ok poses in front of a sedan’s half-opened trunk, from which a woman’s legs tied by tape are protruding.
In the cover story, Maxim says the cover‘s concept is “Bad guy,” saying: “Women like bad guys? This is a real bad guy. Are you dying to love it?”
The magazine also said it photographed the concepts of kidnap, murder and abandonment of a dead body with the actor.
Netizens have criticized the cover, saying it is “almost hate speech not a black comedy by making a caricature of serious crime against women.”
Jung Doo-ri, a model who won the Maxim Girl contest in 2014, said on social media: “I was supposed to be a model for Maxim’s cover this year, but I gave it up after I realized this magazine’s views on women.
Maxim beautified serious crime via this photo and I am seriously concerned about its abusive notion about women.”