Oh Yeong-su, who starred in the Netflix drama Squid Game, has been sentenced after he was found guilty of indecent assault.
The 79-year-old actor rose to international stardom in 2021 when he portrayed player No. 1 - also known as Oh Il-nam - in the Korean-language dystopian drama, which sees ordinary people gambling their lives for the chance of a life-changing cash prize.
On Friday (March 15), a district court judge in Seongnam, a city southeast of Seoul, found Oh guilty of inappropriately holding an actress' hand, and kissing her cheek in 2017, as reported by The New York Times.
The woman - who has not been identified - filed a complaint against the actor in 2021 alleging misconduct while the pair were on tour for a play. This led to Oh being ultimately charged by prosecutors in the following year at the height of his success.
The Golden Globe winner repeatedly denied the allegation when questioned.
According to Soompi, Oh spoke to South Korean television network JTBC about the charges, saying at the time that he "just held her hand to guide the way around the lake."
The broadcaster also reported that Oh had offered an apology to the woman not as an admission of wrongdoing, but because the woman allegedly told him she wouldn't file charges about his actions if he did.
"I am sorry," he also told reporters while walking into his first court hearing in February 2023, per The Independent. "I think I behaved badly."
The Korea Herald reported that the veteran star was given an eight-month suspended sentence and ordered to attend 40 hours of classes on sexual violence.
A district court said it took into consideration that Oh had no previous criminal record in its sentence, the charge can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
"The content of the victim’s journal, and the content of her counseling after the incident is consistent with what happened, and her testimonies could not have been given unless she actually experienced it," the court said in its verdict, per to the outlet.
The actor majored in theater at Dongguk University and debuted as an actor in 1963. He made his first appearance on the silver screen in 1965's The Seashore Village and may also be known for his role in the 2003 movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring.
However, he was largely known for his theater work until he starred in the Korean drama, winning a Golden Globe in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting Role in 2022.
Following the court charges, Oh was dropped from an upcoming film titled About Family by the South Korean director Woo-seok Yang. In February, the film’s distribution company Lotte Entertainment told South Korean media that it was deleting all of Oh’s scenes and reshooting them with another actor, Lee Soon-jae.
Oh will also not appear in the second season of Squid Game, which is expected to arrive on Netflix this year.