‘Squid Game’ star indicted over sexual misconduct

Seoul: "Squid Game" actor O Yeong-su has been indicted on charges of sexual misconduct, South Korea´s prosecutor said Friday.

The 78-year-old in January became the first South Korean to win a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a series for his performance as a seemingly vulnerable old man in the mega-hit Netflix dystopian thriller.

According to local reports, the South Korean prosecution indicted him without detention on Thursday for allegedly improperly touching a woman´s body in 2017.

Everything reported by local media on O "is not factually incorrect," an official from the Suwon District Prosecutor´s Office said, without giving further details.

Following the news, local reports said Seoul´s culture ministry decided to stop airing a government commercial -- about its regulatory innovation -- featuring O.

"Squid Game" -- which imagines a macabre world in which marginalised people are pitted against one another in traditional children´s games that turn deadly -- became Netflix´s most popular series launch ever, drawing 111 million fans in less than four weeks after debuting in 2021.

It is still one of the most popular shows on the platform.