SEOUL - When Seungri spotted paparazzi at Seoul's airport last Friday (Feb 22) before he caught a flight to Singapore for a show, he ran, with his manager, to blend into the crowd.

That act has drawn criticism from netizens, many of whom had earlier questioned the BigBang singer's role in Seoul club Burning Sun.

Reports said staff had assaulted a customer and that the nightspot was linked to illicit activities.

Seungri had apologised on Feb 2, clarifying that he was not involved in its management.

But after reports of the airport incident surfaced, he received further flak, with one netizen writing: "Participate in the (police) investigations and receive the rightful punishments."

The storm is likely to blow up even further now that a Korean cable channel said it had discovered Kakao Talk exchanges between the singer and a Burning Sun employee in 2015, over what looked like procuring prostitutes for VIP clients.

One message purportedly had Seungri saying: "Pick the ones who'll sleep with them without a fuss."