‘Squid Game’ star O Yeong-su indicted over sexual misconduct—prosecutor

O Yeong-su arrives for the 74th Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 12, 2022. O has been indicted on charges of sexual misconduct, South Korea’s prosecutor told AFP Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. ROBYN BECK / AFP

SEOUL, South Korea—”Squid Game” actor O Yeong-su has been indicted on charges of sexual misconduct, South Korea’s prosecutor told AFP Friday, Nov. 25.

The 78-year-old in January became the first South Korean to win a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a series for his performance as a seemingly vulnerable old man in the mega-hit Netflix dystopian thriller.

According to local reports, the South Korean prosecution indicted him without detention on Thursday for allegedly improperly touching a woman’s body in 2017.

Everything reported by local media on O “is not factually incorrect,” an official from the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office told AFP, without giving further details.

Following the news, local reports said Seoul’s culture ministry decided to stop airing a government commercial—about its regulatory innovation—featuring O.

“Squid Game”—which imagines a macabre world in which marginalized people are pitted against one another in traditional children’s games that turn deadly—became Netflix’s most popular series launch ever, drawing 111 million fans in less than four weeks after debuting in 2021.

It is still one of the most popular shows on the platform.

The show’s success has amplified South Korea’s increasingly outsized influence on global popular culture, following global fame won by the likes of K-pop band BTS and the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.”

Multiple figures in South Korea’s film industry—including late filmmaker Kim Ki-duk and actors Cho Jae-hyun and Oh Dal-su—have faced sexual assault allegations.  /ra

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