South Korean award-winning actor, O Yeong-su has been found guilty of sexual misconduct after he was charged with assaulting a woman in 2017.
The actor, who made history in 2022 as the first South Korean to win a Golden Globe Award for best-supporting actor in a series, has been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, as reported by the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court.
The court also ordered him to complete 40 hours of classes on sexual violence, the court added.
Judge Jeong Yeon-ju stated that the victim’s records of the assault and her claims are “consistent… and appear to be statements that cannot be made without actually experiencing them,” according to the court.
As he exited the court, O told reporters that he planned to appeal against the decision. He has seven days to appeal, failing which the ruling will be upheld.
O was indicted in 2022 without detention on charges of sexually assaulting a woman, who has not been identified, on two occasions.
The incidents occurred when O was staying in a rural area for a theatre performance in 2017, on a walking path and in front of the victim’s residence, respectively, according to the Suwon District Court.
Womenlink, a women’s rights group in South Korea, welcomed the ruling and urged O to apologize to the victim.
“The defendant resembles other offenders of sexual violence in theatre in the past who tried to cover up their sexual violence as ‘favor’ and ‘friendship’,” the group said in a post on X.
The controversy surrounding the accusations of sexual harassment led to his withdrawal from an upcoming film in South Korea.
O won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in Television for his role in ‘Squid Game’ in 2022, becoming the first South Korean to receive the award. He portrayed the elderly character O II-nam, one of the main antagonists of the first season.
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