Blackpink’s Jennie’s ‘vaping incident’ under investigation in South Korea after petition

A now-deleted video showing K-pop megastar Jennie of Blackpink smoking a vape indoors has sparked online outcry, after Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had received a formal complaint.

In the footage, uploaded as part of a live blog on YouTube for fans but subsequently removed even as copies of it spread across the internet, Jennie appears to exhale vape smoke while a bevy of hair and make-up artists work closely on her face.

Smoking cigarettes or vapes indoors is illegal in South Korea and the footage triggered headlines and online outrage, with “indoor smoking” and “Blackpink Jennie” becoming top trending topics on social media platform X in the South.

“Controversy over Jennie’s indoor smoking … exhaling smoke in the face of her staff,” was the headline of the Yonhap news agency’s report, typical of the widespread reporting in Korean-language media.

One internet user claimed the incident likely happened in Italy’s Capri, where Jennie had been filming, and said they had requested that the South Korean Embassy in Italy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs probe the Blackpink star, the Korea Times reported.

The user urged Seoul to request “an investigation from the Italian authorities regarding Blackpink’s Jennie’s indoor smoking incident and take strict action,” the report said.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that they had received a petition related to the incident.

The star’s agency OA Entertainment acknowledged the vaping and apologised on her behalf, saying Jennie “deeply regrets her mistake”.

“We sincerely apologise to everyone who felt uncomfortable with Jennie’s actions,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Jennie has personally apologised to all the staff on-site who may have