Lucas Wong, also known as Wong Yuk-hei, has taken a break from his K-pop career, the star posted on Instagram on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong-born 22-year-old, who is part of several K-pop groups and boy bands including WayV, SuperM and NCT, announced the break after several online posts from alleged former romantic partners which claimed, among other things, that he had abused his identity as a star and cheated on them.

In the Instagram post, Wong apologised broadly for his past behaviour, and announced he would take time off to reflect on his actions.

He also asked for the chance to apologise in person to those he had hurt, though he didn’t mention any specifics.

Although the allegations aimed at Wong were convoluted as they spread across social media, at least one South Korean individual and one Chinese individual shared stories online this week that they had been in apparent romantic relationships with the star, who they had been a fan of.

Both alleged they were taken advantage of by him romantically and financially, saying he had cheated on them and abused their feelings for him.

Some fans attempted to defend the star in online posts.

Wong had been set to release the song Jalapeño at 5PM Hong Kong time on Wednesday, a collaboration with WayV member Hendery, but the song release was cancelled. It is the third of several recent songs by a duo from among WayV’s seven members.

The star also used his Instagram post to publicly apologise to his fans and his band mates.

The allegations and Wong’s post arrived as WayV is in the middle of preparations for the upcoming release of a new album. It is not known what his taking a break means for the album, the band, or the star’s career.

Wong debuted as a member of NCT in 2018, one of the now 23 members of the South Korean multi-team boy band managed by Seoul-based SM Entertainment. He has been active in SM’s other groups WayV and SuperM since 2019, and has increasingly become a popular star in China as both a model and a television personality.

He has notably been a recurring cast member in different seasons of the popular variety show Keep Running, the Chinese take on the Korean show Running Man.

The Post has reached out to SM Entertainment for a statement regarding the situation.

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