A South Korean courtroom on Friday discovered Oh Younger-soo, an actor who gained a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a contestant within the Netflix survival drama “Squid Game,” responsible of indecent assault.
Mr. Oh, 79, was given an eight-month suspended sentence and ordered to attend 40 hours of courses on sexual violence. The decision and sentencing had been introduced on Friday at a district courtroom in Seongnam, a metropolis southeast of Seoul.
Lots of the hearings within the case had been closed to the general public. Mr. Oh had publicly denied the cost.
Prosecutors charged Mr. Oh in 2022 after an actress filed a criticism accusing him of inappropriately touching her whereas the 2 had been on tour for a play in 2017. She was not recognized.
The cost carried a possible jail sentence of as much as 10 years or a superb of as much as 15 million South Korean gained, or about $11,400. However prosecutors stated final month that they’d search a one-year sentence and an employment ban if he had been to be convicted.
A couple of months earlier than he was charged, Mr. Oh grew to become the primary South Korean to win a Golden Globe, for finest supporting actor for his position as Participant No. 001 in “Squid Game,” a dystopian drama about individuals who danger their lives in a secretive contest in hopes of profitable a fortune. He was additionally nominated for a 2022 Emmy for his efficiency on the present, nonetheless probably the most watched sequence ever on Netflix.
Mr. Oh, who has appeared in additional than 200 performs since 1968 and gained quite a few theater awards, is taken into account one among South Korea’s most completed stage actors.
The sexual misconduct cost damage his profession effectively earlier than the courtroom rendered a verdict. Mr. Oh was not included within the solid for Season 2 of “Squid Game,” scheduled for release this year. The nation’s Tradition Ministry has additionally stopped airing a authorities business that options him.
Mr. Oh may even is not going to seem in an upcoming movie referred to as “About Family” by the South Korean director Woo-seok Yang. The movie’s distribution firm, Lotte Leisure, informed the native information media final month that it was deleting all of his scenes and refilming them with one other actor, Lee Quickly-jae.
Final 12 months, Mr. Oh was dropped from the solid of a South Korean play, “Love Letter,” a few pair of actors who take turns studying love letters to one another.
Mr. Oh’s accuser filed a criticism in opposition to him in 2021, prompting a police investigation in Seongnam. Prosecutors finally dropped the case, however the lady appealed to reopen it, and Mr. Oh was later charged after extra proof was gathered.
In November 2022, Mr. Oh informed JTBC, a South Korean broadcaster that first reported the charge, that he had solely held the accuser’s hand to information her means throughout a stroll round a lake. He additionally stated that he had apologized to her, not as an admission of wrongdoing however as a result of she had stated she wouldn’t make a difficulty of his habits if he did so.
“I am sorry,” he told reporters whereas strolling into his first courtroom listening to in February 2023. “I think I behaved badly.”
However he continued to disclaim the cost.
Different particulars of the case haven’t been made public. The hearings have been closed and the girl has not been recognized, in step with commonplace apply for intercourse crimes circumstances in South Korea.
Folks convicted of indecent assault in South Korea change into registered intercourse offenders who’re monitored by the police even after finishing their jail phrases. First-time offenders can obtain decreased sentences, or just a superb.
Since 2018, South Korea’s #MeToo motion has led to accusations of sexual misconduct in opposition to an array of distinguished males, together with highly effective figures within the leisure business and authorities. Some have apologized or resigned. Others have been convicted of rape or different intercourse crimes and sentenced to long prison terms.
It is a creating story.
