Squid Game star O Yeong-Su has been acquitted of sexual misconduct charges by an appellate court in South Korea.
On Tuesday, the Suwon District Court acquitted O, reversing a lower court ruling that had found him guilty of sexually harassing a woman during a 2017 regional theater tour.
The 81-year-old actor had been accused of hugging and kissing the woman on the cheek without her consent.
The court acknowledged that suspicion existed, citing the fact that the woman sought counseling for sexual violence six months after the alleged incident and that O had apologized to her at her request.
However, the bench expressed concern about the possibility that the victim's memory may have been "distorted", considering how long ago the incident occurred, and emphasized the need to protect the defendant’s interests when doubts remain.
O was found guilty in 2024 and given an eight-month suspended prison sentence, suspended for two years, but said he would appeal against the verdict.
Prosecutors had sought a one-year prison sentence in both the initial and appellate proceedings.
The alleged victim spoke out against the verdict following the ruling. “Despite today’s ruling, I will continue to speak the truth to the very end,” she said in a statement released through women’s rights organization Womenlink, adding that the acquittal would not “invalidate the truth or erase the pain I have suffered.”
Womenlink criticized the ruling, saying they were “outraged by a ruling that once again conceals sexual violence in the theatre world,”.
O gained international recognition for his performance in Netflix’s global phenomenon “Squid Game,” winning the Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role on TV in 2022.
The series became a cultural phenomenon and remains one of the streaming platform’s most-watched programs.
The veteran actor’s legal troubles had cast a shadow over his career following his role in the survival thriller series.
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