Yeong-su, who became the first South Korean actor to win a Golden Globe award, is seen as one of the greatest stage actors in the country, appearing in more than 200 stage productions since 1963 and winning a string of major awards.

Award-winning Squid Game actor O Yeong-su has been charged with sexual misconduct, South Korean judicial officials said.

According to officials, Yeong-su, who is best known for his role as Oh Il-nam in Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’, was indicted by South Korean prosecutors after a woman accused him of inappropriately touching her body in 2017.

The woman originally filed a complaint against Yeong-su to the police in December 2021, but the case was closed in April without any charges filed against the actor, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Prosecutors in Suwon reportedly reopened the case after the alleged victim asked for the allegations to be investigated further.

The 78-year-old actor consistently denied the allegations when he was questioned by authorities and was released without detention, AFP reported on Friday.

Last year, Yeong-su, in his statement about the allegations, said: “I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake. I apologised because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it, but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges.”

An official from the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office said everything reported by local media about the star, who won a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe in January for his breakout role in the Netflix thriller, “is not factually incorrect”.

Following the charge, Seoul’s ministry of culture has decided to stop broadcasting a government TV commercial featuring the veteran actor.

The dystopian Squid Game, Netflix's most popular series of all time, is a thriller series that tells the story of how debt-ridden contestants played deadly series of childhood games in a bid to win 45.6 billion won.

The thriller, which drew 111 million fans in less than four weeks after debuting in 2021, is still one of the most popular shows on the platform.

According to Writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who said “There’s been so much pressure, so much demand, and so much love for a second season” the thriller is returning for a second series in the future.