Veteran Squid Game actor charged with sexual misconduct in South Korea

A septuagenarian star of the Netflix phenomenon Squid Game has been charged with sexual misconduct.

In January, O Yeong-su, 78, became the first South Korean to win a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a series.

He was recognised for his performance as a seemingly vulnerable old man in the dystopian production.

According to local reports, prosecutors charged the veteran actor on Thursday for allegedly improperly touching a woman’s body in 2017, the AFP news agency reported.

He was released without detention, the news agency reported.

In a statement, the actor told the South Korean broadcaster JTBC: “I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake.

“I apologised because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges.”

The alleged victim reportedly first made a complaint in December.

The case was then dropped in April but reopened following an appeal, according to the Yonhap news agency.

South Korea’s culture ministry has decided to stop broadcasting a government advertisement featuring the actor.

A worldwide sensation

Squid Game became a worldwide sensation last year.

It was Netflix’s most popular launch ever, attracting 111 million viewers in less than four weeks.

The series depicts a world in which marginalised people compete against each other in deadly versions of traditional children’s games.

O played the oldest competitor, a seemingly kind old man with a brain tumour, called Oh Il-nam.

A second series of the show is being produced, but it was unclear if his character would feature again.

O began acting in 1967 and is a respected stage actor in South Korea, having appeared in 200 productions.

He recently said his life had changed markedly since Squid Game.

He said: “I feel like I’m in the air. When I go to cafes or other places, I become self-conscious.”

The show’s success has amplified South Korea’s increasing influence on global popular culture.

It followed the success of K-pop band BTS and Oscar-winning film Parasite.

Hwang Dong-hyuk, writer-director of Squid Game, has described it as an “allegory or fable about modern capitalist society”.