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A South Korean court on Friday convicted Oh Young-soo, an actor who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a contestant in the Netflix survival drama “Squid Game,” of indecent assault.
A judge at the district court in Seongnam, a city southeast of Seoul, found Mr. Oh guilty of inappropriately hugging an actress, holding her hand and kissing her cheek in 2017.
Mr Oh, 79, received an eight-month suspended sentence and was ordered to attend 40 hours of sexual violence classes. Oh, who had publicly denied the accusation, told reporters after the verdict that he planned to appeal.
Prosecutors charged Mr. Oh in 2022 after an actress, who was not identified, filed a complaint accusing him of touching her inappropriately. They argued that, on multiple occasions in August and September 2017, Mr. Oh hugged the woman, held her hand, kissed her on the cheek and lay in her rented room, where he made potentially inappropriate sexual comments, the judge said. Jeong Yeon-ju.
The actress told others about her experience at the time and wrote about them in her diary, Judge Jeong said. She received sexual violence counseling in March 2018. She tried to forget her distressing memories for some time, until the success of “Squid Game” in 2021 led the woman to demand an apology from Mr. Oh for his actions, for which the Mr. Oh apologized, the judge said.
Mr Oh denied kissing the woman, claimed he had held her hand to help her carry things and said his apology was not an admission of guilt, the judge said. Mr. Oh’s lawyers also argued that the woman’s narrative was inconsistent. But the judge considered his accusations credible.
A few months before he was charged, Mr. Oh became the first South Korean to win a golden globeas best supporting actor for his role as player number 001 in “Squid Game,” a dystopian drama about people who risk their lives in a secret contest in hopes of winning a fortune.
He was also nominated for a 2022 Emmy for his performance on the show, which remains Netflix’s most-watched series. Oh Il-nam, the character he plays on the show, is one of hundreds of contestants competing for first place in a game in which everyone dies except the winner, who gets a life-changing reward. He hides certain secrets about his true identity from the other participants throughout the game, revealing them at the end.
Mr. Oh, who has appeared in more than 200 plays since 1968 and won numerous theater awards, is considered one of South Korea’s most prominent theater actors.
The sexual misconduct charge affected his career long before the court issued a verdict. Mr. Oh was not included in the cast of “Squid Game” season 2. scheduled for release this year. The country’s Ministry of Culture also stopped airing a government commercial featuring him.
lord oh He will also not appear in an upcoming film called “About Family” by South Korean director Woo-seok Yang. The film’s distribution company, Lotte Entertainment, told local media last month that it would delete all of its scenes and reshoot them with another actor, Lee Soon-jae.
Last year, Mr. Oh was removed from the cast of a South Korean play, “Love Letter,” about a pair of actors who take turns reading love letters to each other.
Mr. Oh’s accuser filed a complaint against him in 2021, prompting a police investigation in Seongnam. Prosecutors eventually dropped the case, but the woman appealed to reopen it and Mr. Oh was later charged after more evidence was gathered.
“I’m sorry,” he told reporters as he walked to his first court hearing in February 2023. “I think I misbehaved.”
But he continued to deny the accusation.
The indecent assault charge carried a possible prison sentence of up to 10 years or a fine of up to 15 million South Korean won, or about $11,400. But prosecutors said last month they would seek a one-year sentence and an employment ban if he were convicted.
Other details of the case have not been made public. Many of the hearings have been held behind closed doors and the woman has not been identified, in line with standard practice in sex crime cases in South Korea.
People convicted of indecent assault in South Korea become registered sex offenders who are supervised by police even after serving their prison sentences. First-time offenders can receive reduced sentences or simply a fine.
Since 2018, South Korea’s #MeToo movement has led to allegations of sexual misconduct against a number of prominent men, including powerful figures in the entertainment industry and government. Some have apologized or resigned. Others have been convicted of rape or other sexual crimes and sentenced to long prison terms.