PETALING JAYA, Jan 15 — The news of EXO member Chen’s marriage has not gone down well in his home country of South Korea.

K-pop news portal Koreaboo reported that several goods with his image were put up for sale on a Korean secondhand items site shortly after the 27-year-old announced that he was getting married and expecting a baby.

The portal also wrote that Korean forum users were labeling Chen as "irresponsible”, "selfish”, and "thoughtless” for holding a shotgun wedding before serving his compulsory military duties.

Conservative values in the East Asian country generally frown upon couples who get pregnant out of wedlock, especially if the man has yet to fulfil his military service.

The hashtag "Chen_Out” also began trending in Korean forums to demand the singer’s departure from the group.

Disgruntled admirers of the K-pop star have also taken to Twitter to sell off photocards of Chen along with his albums.

International EXO fans, known as EXO-Ls, have banded together to combat the negativity surrounding his marriage by starting a new Twitter hashtag that translates as, "EXO-Ls will protect EXO”.

A Twitter account named Chen Union Malaysia also called on people to report negative comments about Chen that were flooding his official YouTube page.