Squid Game star O Yeong-Su has been charged with sexual misconduct after allegedly touching a woman inappropriately, according to South Korea’s prosecutor.
At the start of the year, the 78-year-old was the first South Korean to win a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor in a series.
It has been reported he was indicted by the South Korean prosecution without detention on Thursday for allegedly improperly touching a woman’s body in 2017, writes The Mirror.
Local reports state O has denied the allegations. Reports said Seoul’s culture ministry decided to stop airing a government commercial about its regulatory innovation featuring O.
The Netflix star told local media: "I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake." He said despite apologising to the alleged victim, it wasn't an admission of guilt. "I apologised because [she] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges," he told Korean news broadcaster JTBC.
The complaint was originally filed in December of last year and the case was closed in April, however it has since been reopened after the reported victim asked for further investigations.
Suwon District Prosecutor's Office officials have told the AFP news agency that reports in the South Korean local media are "not factually incorrect". Throughout 2021, Squid Game was a huge hit on Netflix and attracted millions of viewers.
Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched show of all time in just over a week, essentially securing its sequel immediately.
The streaming giant dropped the first poster and plot hints back in June. There is still a long wait until viewers will get to see the second instalment of the show.
The creator of Squid Game, South Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk, first confirmed he started the writing process for the sequel back in November 2021.
However, it wasn’t until June 12 2022, when Netflix officially announced the project.
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