New Delhi: Actor O Yeong-su from the 'Squid Game' has been accused of sexual misconduct, according to South Korean judicial officials. The 78-year-old, also known as Player 001 in the Korean show, was later freed without being imprisoned. The South Korean star, according to local media, has refuted the accusation.
In mid-2017, the actor is accused of touching a woman in an inappropriate manner. The alleged victim reportedly filed a complaint in December 2021, according to Variety. The case was closed in April, according to a South Korean news agency, but it was later reopened at the victim's request.
In a statement shared with Korean broadcaster JTBC, the actor said,"I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake. I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges."
O Yeong-Su won the Golden Globe for best-supportingsupporting actor earlier this year for his role in the critically acclaimed Netflix thriller 'Squid Game', making him the first actor from South Korea to win the award.
The most watched show on Netflix ever, 'Squid Game', is a thriller that follows a group of indebted individuals as they play dangerous children's games for a chance to win a large sum of money. With audiences going frenzy about the plot, the show went on to become a worldwide phenomenon.
O Yeong-Su was born in Kaesong, now in North Korea, in 1944. After the 38th parallel became a dividing line and before the inter-Korean war, his family migrated into the U.S.-controlled South. He started acting professionally in 1967 and has primarily worked in live theatre. Before 'Squid Game', O's best known film appearance was as the elderly monk in Kim Ki-duk’s 'Spring, duk's Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring'.