'Squid Game' star O Yeong-su to be edited out of film 'Big Family' after sexual assault accusation

Actor O Yeong-su [YONHAP]

Actor O Yeong-su will be edited out of director Yang Woo-suk’s new film “Big Family," Lotte Entertainment, the film's distributor, said Monday.

“All the scenes with O will be removed from the film and will be replaced with actor Lee Soon-jae,” Lotte Entertainment said.

The decision comes three days after the prosecutors requested a one-year prison sentence for O on charges of sexually assaulting a female member of a theater troupe in September 2017. Lee was indicted in November 2022. Oh has denied the charges against him since his first trial, which took place in February last year.

Prosecutors seek prison time for 79-year-old 'Squid Game' actor O Yeong-su

The alleged victim claimed that O had groped and kissed her without her consent between July and September of 2017. The ruling trial will be held on March 15.

“Big Family” stars singer and actor Lee Seung-gi, whose character becomes a Buddhist monk instead of inheriting his father’s popular dumpling restaurant. Actor Kim Yun-seok plays Lee’s father. The distributor plans to release the film within this year.

O, whose real name is Oh Se-kang, majored in theater at Dongguk University and debuted as an actor in 1963. The actor appeared on the silver screen in “The Seashore Village” (1965) and was also in director Kim Ki-duk’s “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring” (2003). He was largely known for his theater work until being cast as player No. 1, also known as Oh Il-nam, in “Squid Game."

Lee Soon-jae, 89, is a veteran actor who has had a prolific career on stage and on screens both big and small. He’s played almost every kind of role, from Cyrano de Bergerac in the Korean stage production of “Cyrano” (2006) to comic grandpas like Soon-jae in the hit sitcom “Unstoppable High Kick!” (2007). He became a familiar face to the younger generation by appearing in the hit reality show “Grandpas Over Flowers” (2013).

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]