South Korean “Squid Game” actor Oh Young-soo, who was charged with assaulting a woman in 2017, has been found guilty of sexual misconduct, a district court announced Friday.
As of 2022, he is 79 years old and became the first Korean to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a seemingly frail old man in the hit Netflix dystopian thriller.
The actor was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, the Suwon District Court’s Seongnam Branch told AFP.
He was also ordered to take 40 hours of classes on sexual violence, the court added.
The victim’s own record of the assault and the victim’s claims are “consistent and seem to be statements that could only be made if one had actually experienced it,” Judge Jeong Young-joo said, according to the court.
Mr. O was indicted in 2022 for sexually assaulting an unidentified woman twice.
According to the Suwon District Court, the incidents occurred in 2017 when Mr. O was in a rural area for a theatrical performance, on a promenade and in front of the victim’s home.
“The Squid Game,” a series depicting a dark world where marginalized people are forced to compete in dangerous versions of traditional children’s games, quickly became a huge hit on Netflix.
Less than four weeks after its release in 2021, it attracted a whopping 111 million viewers.
The show’s success adds to South Korea’s growing influence on global popular culture, following the global fame of K-pop band BTS and the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.”
Several figures in the Korean film industry are facing sexual assault allegations, including the late director Kim Ki-duk and actor Cho Jae-hyun.
