Actor Jeong Jun-won, who appears in the popular drama series “The World of the Married,” has caused controversy after pictures of the 16-year-old drinking and smoking with friends went viral on the internet.

On Sunday, pictures that appear to be screenshots from Jeong’s social media page were trending in a local online community.

One of the pictures showed the actor and his friends sitting around a table full of soju bottles, while another showed them smoking. The legal drinking and smoking age in South Korea is 19.

The pictures, posted Sunday around 11 p.m., have since been removed from Jeong’s social media page.

Jeong’s agency, Dain Entertainment, released an official apology Sunday, saying the company was “looking into the situation in detail and we will make sure it does not happen again.”

“We regret causing such trouble when society is going through a chaotic period with COVID-19, and we apologize sincerely to all the staff members of ‘The World of the Married,’” the agency added.

Jeong plays Hae-kang, a classmate of Sun-woo and Tae-oh’s son Jun-young, in the hit JTBC drama.

It has been reported that Jeong will not appear in the two remaining episodes, as Hae-kang’s part in the drama came to an end last week.

There have been demands that the producers remove all scenes showing Jeong.

By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)