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Actor Oh Youngsoo (who is 82) has officially been cleared by the Supreme Court four years after the whole case first started. Previously, he had been accused of forcing himself on a female theater worker.
According to legal sources on the 26th, the Supreme Court rejected the prosecution's appeal on the 25th. By doing that, they agreed with an earlier court's decision that he was not guilty.
To give you the back story, Oh Youngsoo was accused of inappropriately touching a younger female coworker called Ms. A twice back in 2017. Prosecutors claimed that while they were out of town for a play called 'King Lear' in August 2017, he hugged her on a walking path and said, "Let's hug." They also said that in September of that year, he kissed her on the cheek outside her home right after the hallway light went out while she was unlocking her door.
He was officially indicted without detention November 2022 across these two instances. At the time, he completely denied it, saying:
"I did hold her hand to show her the way, but it was not molestation."
The case was a total rollercoaster. In March 2024, the first court believed the victim's story and found Oh Youngsoo guilty. They gave him an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. Both sides didn't agree and appealed the decision. Then, in November of last year, the appeals court completely changed the ruling and found him not guilty.
The appeals court noted, "The allegations are indeed suspicious," pointing out that the victim went to a counseling center six months later, told her friends, and Oh Youngsoo apologized to her via text message when she asked for one.
They also added that her story changed over time. First, she said he 'tried to kiss' her and later saying that he 'actually kissed' her. The court said this means her memory might have mixed up over time and stated, "When a crime is not definitively proven, the judgment must favor the interest of the defendant." In other words, the court couldn't find him guilty without a concrete evidence.
The court also looked closely at the victim's personal diary entries. They noted that before the alleged incident, she wrote that Oh Youngsoo told her, "I see you as a woman," and she later wrote about the MeToo movement. But on the other hand, she also wrote that she missed him and even sent him text messages asking how he was doing. The court concluded that because her memory might have changed over time, there was too much doubt to find him guilty.
Regarding this, the victim's side raised their voices:
"This ruling is a shameful verdict that protects the power imbalances where sexual violence happens. We urge the judiciary to responsibly reflect on what kind of message this ruling sends to society."
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If you forgot who he is, Oh Youngsoo became famous all over the world in 2021 as Oh Ilnam in Netflix's huge hit 'Squid Game.' The next year, he made history by becoming the first Korean actor to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. However, as soon as these accusations came out, his career took a huge hit, and he was even kicked off a movie project.
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