KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Popular Korean TV series Vincenzo will be taking a week’s break after this weekend’s episodes.

KPop news portal Soompi reported that the drama’s producers had stated that the hiatus was to improve the drama’s quality.

"After the airing of Episode 16, Vincenzo will be going on a one-week hiatus in order to improve the quality of the drama,” the producers were quoted, noting that the show will return on April 17 with a special episode instead of Episode 17. 

Episodes 15 and 16 of Vincenzo will be aired on April 10 and 11 as scheduled, and Episode 17 will air two weeks later on April 24.

The show had been embroiled in controversy after its lead characters Vincenzo (Song Joong-ki) and Cha-young (Jeon Yeo-bin) were shown having an instant Chinese bibimbap in the eighth episode of the dark comedy that was aired on March 14.

Bibimbap is a popular Korean dish consisting of a bowl of warm white rice topped with seasoned vegetables and chili pepper paste.

The scene was frowned upon by Korean viewers amid recent Chinese claims that some elements of Korean culture, including kimchi, originated from China.

Vincenzo started broadcasting on February 20, and is available on Netflix.