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'Squid Game' actor to stand trial in February for indecent assault charges
Oh Young-soo, the 78-year-old actor who won international renown for his breakout role in the Netflix series Squid Game, will stand trial in February.
The 78-year-old South Korean star of Netflix’s international hit series Squid Game will stand trial for charges of indecent assault following a woman’s accusation of inappropriate touching.
Prosecutors with the district court in Seongnam city announced on Thursday that Oh Young-soo was indicted last week and his trial is slated to start next year in February, the Associated Press reported.
Kim Myeong-un, with the Seongnam district prosecutors’ office, told the AP that he was unable to confirm specific details about the case.
The alleged victim filed a complaint against the Emmy-nominated actor in December of last year. She said he made unwanted physical contact during a meeting five years ago in 2017.
Authorities closed the case in April of this year, but several months later the victim requested that it be reopened, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Oh denied any wrongdoing when questioned by prosecutors, Variety reported.
“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,” Oh said in a statement to South Korean broadcaster JTBC, according to Variety.
Oh won international acclaim for his role in Squid Game, becoming the first South Korean actor to ever win a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a series. The role also earned him an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The series depicts down-on-their-luck people participating in a dystopian series of contests that fuse childhood games with brutal life-and-death consequences.
Oh began his acting career in 1967. Before his breakout role in the Netflix series, he was known primarily as a theater actor starring in some 200 stage productions, including A Streetcar Named Desire, and Goethe’s Faust, according to Variety.
He also won acclaim for his movie role as the old monk in Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, Variety reported.
Oh’s government TV commercial about regulatory innovation was pulled from the airways last week after his indictment was announced, according to multiple media outlets.
He has not responded to the AP’s request for comment.
