A SOUTH Korean pop star has come in for serious criticism after he told fans he had coronavirus as an April Fool’s joke.
K-pop star Jaejoong earlier took to Instagram to claim he had caught COVID-19 after “living carelessly” and “ignoring” important government warnings.
The post prompted an outpouring of emotional responses from fans worried about the singer’s health and wishing him a speedy recovery.
However, just hours later, the 34-year-old returned to the social media platform to reveal that the early post had been a prank.
Jaejoong, whose real name is Kim Jae-joong, claimed to have told fans he had COVID-19 as part of an April Fool’s prank designed to raise awareness about the disease.
This Instagram post explaining the “joke” attracted widespread anger from fans and has since been deleted from his feed.
Jaejoong is somewhat famous for his April Fool’s gags in South Korea.
Previous pranks include pretending to faint during a concert and falsely announcing he was getting married.
An estimated 885,221 people worldwide have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Of that number, 185,208 have recovered while 44,210 have died.
South Korea has seen a reported 9,887 cases of which 165 have died and 5,567 have recovered.
The Republic of Ireland has seen a reported 3,235 cases and 71 deaths.
