WeMakePrice, a local deal-of-the-day site, on Thursday publicly apologized for abusing applicants during a recent recruitment process that led to a government crackdown.

“I apologize again for causing a social fuss,” said CEO Park Eun-sang during a news conference held at the company’s Seoul headquarters. “I feel a solemn responsibility.”

In December, the company called in 11 people who applied for merchandiser positions, saying 80 percent of them could be hired as regular workers after on-site training and screening process.

After having worked 14 hours a day for two weeks, however, all of them were made redundant and paid only 550,000 won ($500) ― the equivalent of 3,000 won per hour, far below the legal minimum wage of 5,210 won.

The recruits protested against the decision and the public also showed support by boycotting the website and canceling their membership.

Even though the company later announced it would rehire them, the public fury continued which led to an investigation by the Labor Ministry.

Following the investigation, the company received an administrative order to change its contract conditions, including paying bonuses for extra work, and was imposed with a fine of 84 million won.

The penalty was not severe but the company’s brand name was seriously tarnished amid the growing public uproar over employer-employee inequality.

Over the past few weeks, WeMakePrice, once the nation’s most visited social commerce website, fell to the third spot in visitor numbers, outpaced by local rivals Ticket Monster and Coupang.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)