Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
'The World of the Married' actor accused of underage drinking and smoking
Actor Jung Joon-won, 16, is accused of underage drinking and smoking. Screen captured from Twitter
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actor Jung Joon-won, who is starring in JTBC's hit drama “The World of the Married,” is accused of underage drinking and smoking after his social media photos were exposed.
Actor Jung Joon-won/ Korea Times file
The actor, 16, faced the allegations when a user uploaded screen grabs of his social media posts on an online community, Sunday.
One post showed a picture of him and his friends posing in front of alcohol bottles at a restaurant. Another one had a photo of electronic cigarette with a caption “anyone wants to buy.”
The pictures went viral and drew public criticism. Considering Korea's legal drinking and smoking age is 19, the actor falls below the appropriate age to consume either substance.
Soon after the photos surfaced online, Jung's agency DAIN Entertainment released a statement apologizing to the public and the JTBC drama's production team.
“From now on, we will put our best effort in managing our actor to better behave and to prevent such an incident from happening again,” it said.
Jung debuted at eight with the sports drama film “Pacemaker” (2012). He has starred in numerous films and TV dramas, including hit KBS drama “My Father is Strange” (2017) and the comedy film “My Little Brother” (2016).