Actor Oh Yeong-su has been charged with sexual misconduct.

The 78-year-old, best known for his role as Oh Il-nam in Netflix’s Squid Game, was indicted earlier this week by South Korean prosecutors after a woman claimed he touched her inappropriately in mid-2017.

Yeong-su’s alleged victim filed a complaint to police in December 2021, but they closed the case in April without filing charges against the actor, according to the Yonhap news agency.

However, prosecutors in Suwon reportedly reopened the case and investigated the allegations, which Yeong-su has consistently denied. The actor was then released without detention AFP reported on Friday.

Korean actor Oh Yeong-su in Squid Games. Photo / Netflix

An official from the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office told the outlet everything reported by local media about the Golden Globe winner “is not factually correct”.

In a statement Yeong-su shared with Korean broadcaster JTBC, the actor 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.”

He also said the apology “doesn’t mean that I admit the charges”.

Yeong-su won South Korea’s first Golden Globe award in January for his role as Oh Il-nam in Squid Game, which saw poverty-hit contestants play childhood games with fatal consequences in a bid to win 45.6 billion won.

He is seen as one of the greatest stage actors in South Korea, appearing in more than 200 stage productions since 1963 and winning a string of major awards.

The dystopian Squid Game 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 and is returning for a second series.

Writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk last year told Associated Press about the comeback: “There’s been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season. So I almost feel like you leave us no choice!”