South Korean actor O Yeong-Su who played the role of an old man in the hit Korean series Squid Game was found guilty of sexual misconduct on Friday after he was charged for sexually assaulting a woman in 2017.
In 2022, O Yeong-Su became the first Korean actor to win the Golden Globe Award for the Best Supporting Actor position for his impressive role in Squid Game.
The Court Ruling
The 79 year old actor had seemingly impressed a huge majority of the audience with his impressive performance of a vulnerable old man who later turned out to be a big deal in the mega-hit dystopian Netflix thriller.
According to what the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court told the AFP, O Yeong-Su had been sentenced to 8 months of imprisonment and two years of suspension.
The court also added that the actor has also been ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence classes. According to the court, judge Jeong Yeon-Ju said that the records and claims of the victim are “consistent … and appear to be statements that cannot be made without actually experiencing them,”. The woman who was victimised had not yet been identified, on two occasions.
The Case
The incidents took place in 2017, when the actor was staying in a rural area for a theatre performance, once on a walking path and consecutively in front of the victim’s residence, according to the Suwon District Court.
O Yeong-Su was initially charged in 2022 after an actress had allegedly filed a complaint against him for touching her inappropriately. The preciding judge over the case said that even though the actress had received the sexual violence councelling in 2018, she could not move forward with the case because of the success of Squid Game in 2021. The allegations placed on him said that he had apparently hugged a woman and kissed her on the cheek, all against her will, as reported by the Yonhap News Agency.
A women’s rights group in South Korea called ‘Womenlink’ had welcomed the ruling and urged the actor to apologise to the victim.
O Yeong-Su however had apologized to the actress later on, he also said that he had just wanted to hold her hand and guide her around the lake and that he only apologized because he thought that the person wouldn’t make a fuss about it, but that didn’t mean he was admitting to the charges however.
Squid Game- The Series
Squid Game, the Netflix series that premiered back in 2021, that was an outright social representation as well as a critique of the real world, where in a dark world marginalized and hopeless, desperate people are forced to compete in deadly versions of traditional children’s games, quickly gained immense popularity on Netflix.
Within four weeks of it’s initial airing, the series attracted a 111 million viewership! The success of this show has significantly contributed to the amplification of South Korea’s increasingly global cultural significance and success, followed by the cultural fame and significance garnered by the K-pop band BTS and the Oscar winning movie Parasite.
In the South Korean entertainment industry however, many prominent filmmakers and industry producers have faced sexual assault allegations over the years, as well as late filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk and actor Cho Jae-Hyun.
The prosecuted actor O Yeong-Su will not be reportedly participating in the upcoming Season 2 of Squid Game that is presumed to air in 2025. The controversy surrounding the sexual assault allegations of this actor has also led him to being dropped out of an upcoming film in South Korea.
