AWARD-winning “Squid Game” star O Yeong-su has been found guilty of sexual misconduct by a court in South Korea.
The 79-year-old actor has been convicted of molesting a woman on two separate occasions back in 2017.
Disgraced Yeong-su has received a suspended eight-month prison sentence and has been ordered to attend 40 hours of classes on sexual violence.
The majority of the hearings at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court were closed to the public.
But judge Jeong Yeon-ju has since said that the victim’s records of the assault were “consistent…and appear to be statements that cannot be made without actually experiencing them.”
Yeong-su was charged in 2022 when an actress accused him of inappropriately touching her when the pair were on tour for a play, and again outside her house.
read more south korea
The actress has not been identified.
The actor has vehemently, and publicly, denied the allegations against him, insisting that he just held his alleged victim’s hand.
At the time, Yeong-su said he had apologised to the woman, but added that it wasn’t an admission of guilt.
“I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake,” he told Korean news broadcaster JTBC.
Most read in Showbiz
“I apologized because [she] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges.”
Just months before Yeong-su was charged, he became the first South Korean actor to win a Golden Globe and, in the same year, he was also nominated for an Emmy Award.
Yeong-su was widely thought to be one of South Korea’s most successful actors – until the charges against him.
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture immediately pulled a government TV ad featuring Yeong-su off-air following the indictment.
He wasn’t included in the cast for the second season of Squid Game, which remains Netflix’s most-watched show of all time.
Anyone convicted of indecent assault in South Korea is subject to police monitoring – even after the completion of their prison term.
Since 2018, the MeToo movement in South Korea has been highlighting the prevalent climate of sexual harassment and abuse.
A wealth of allegations have emerged from the movement, bringing down some of the most powerful men in the country.
Executives in the K-Pop world have been accused of sexual exploitation and “pimping” girls out — while banning them from dating to keep their image squeaky-clean.
K-pop idol Baek Ji-young, 47, says she almost lost her career after her manager, Kim Shi-won, secretly recorded them having sex then leaked the tape online when she attempted to change her contract.
She tried to sue him but he fled to Los Angeles, where he was jailed for having sex with a minor — which he also recorded.
Artists have also been embroiled in a string of sex scandals, including one known as the Burning Sun plot.
Police officials were arrested in the 2019 scandal in which women were drugged at nightclubs and offered to rich businessmen to rape.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Singer and TV host Jung Joon-young, 34, was jailed for five years for his part in the scandal, raping drunk unconscious women before posting footage to a chatroom.
Ex-Big Bang member Seungri was also involved and given 18 months for arranging prostitution for investors.
