The Ministry of Labor and Employment had to revise images in its public materials following complaints that one of the illustrations featured what some saw as a hand gesture associated with misandry, local media reported Wednesday.

The illustration was part of a safety infographic shared via Kakao Talk messenger on Aug. 5 to alert the public about recent serious industrial accidents. It detailed the safety hazards leading to the fatal fall on Aug. 2 of a worker who had been fixing roofing materials in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, and provided guidelines on preventing such falls from recurring.

The image accompanying the text showed the silhouette of a worker falling. Two complaints were filed over this image, claiming that the worker's hand appears to be making a pinching gesture.

The ministry appears to have taken notice of these two complaints.

While the previous infographic remains unchanged — since deleting a message on KakaoTalk is only possible within five minutes — the ministry released a new infographic on Tuesday that eliminates any hint of the finger gesture in question.

This infographic content, also related to a fall incident, features an illustration of a falling person with their fingertips pressed together, avoiding the previously criticized pinching gesture.

In South Korea, many men consider the hand gesture, which mimics a pinching motion, offensive.

The two-finger gesture was first used in now-defunct feminist online community Megalia to belittle the size of Korean men's genitals as a tactic to mirror the level of scrutiny women's appearances have been subjected to in Korea, and became a major flashpoint of online debates.

In July, carmaker Renault Korea faced an online backlash after a female brand manager in a promotional video posted on YouTube was seen making the gesture. Other companies, including video game developer and publisher Nexon, LG Electronics and retailer GS25, have faced similar controversies.