A local publishing company apologized on Monday for a sexual harassment scandal involving a former senior official and an intern after its decision to reinstate the official sparked intense criticism from within and outside the publishing industry.

Sam & Parkers reinstated the official, surnamed Lee, on Sept. 1 after a local court cleared him of sexual harassment charges, citing the lack of evidence. As criticism surfaced, Lee resigned again last Thursday.

“I apologize to the victim. I hurt and angered the victim due to my ignorance and indiscreet judgment from the beginning of the case all the way to the resigning of the senior official in question,” said CEO Park Si-hyeong in the company’s official blog.

“I am sorry to have frustrated my senior and junior fellows in the publishing industry who have worked so hard with much pride in this challenging industry, and to have infuriated many other people.”

Park added that he would abolish the internship program and invite outsiders to push for a campaign to stamp out sexual harassment in his company.

The unidentified victim claimed that Lee asked her to take off her clothes, and kissed her during her internship. She worked as an intern for 17 months from April 2011 and later became part of the regular staff. She left the company last year after she revealed the case to the company, and then filed a suit against Lee.

In April, the local court cleared Lee of his charges, saying that there was no resistance from the victim when the events took place. After the court ruling, the company returned Lee to his position ― a decision that critics argued showed the company’s lack of atonement.

To help quell the criticism, the company issued a statement on its Facebook account last Thursday, arguing that “free hugs” are part of the company culture, which it said has been striving to deliver a “family-like” working environment. But the statement further deepened the public criticism.

“We have always said that we want to become a company with a family-like atmosphere. So, we have been pursuing a horizontal culture shared by junior and senior colleagues. As a sign of affection toward one another, free hugs have naturally become part of our corporate culture,” the statement said.

Industry workers and online commentators blasted the firm, urging it to properly handle the case.

“According to the argument by Sam & Parkers, a father asked his daughter to come to his office and take off her clothes and then kiss … given that it is pursuing a family-like culture. (I think) the company is a really sick one,” one netizen posted on Twitter.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)