Former Big Bang member T.O.P. to skip 'Squid Game' press event

Former Big Bang member T.O.P. will not be participating in the upcoming news conference for season two of Netflix's “Squid Game.”

Former Big Bang member T.O.P. will appear in Netflix's ″Squid Game″ season two [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Former Big Bang member T.O.P. will not be participating in the upcoming news conference for season two of Netflix's “Squid Game.”

Netflix recently revealed the schedule for the news conference that is slated for Dec. 9 at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul.

The cast members that will attend are Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee Seo-hwan and Jo Yu-ri.

The event will be the first public appearance together for the stars of “Squid Game” season two. Though T.O.P.’s role has been confirmed, he is the only cast member to skip the conference.

T.O.P., whose real name is Choi Seung-hyun, was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation and a 12,000 won ($8.60) fine in July 2017 for smoking cannabis four times.

“Squid Game” director Hwang Dong-hyuk explained the reasoning behind casting T.O.P. in the new season during a news conference for the Netflix show on Aug. 1.

“He was already given a verdict, and the probation period was over,” Hwang said. “So, I felt that enough time had passed for him to start something new again.”

He also added, “By that point, it was a bit late to reverse my [casting] decision and I had already gone through a lot with the actor. We reached the conclusion that the only way to show why we had to work with this actor was to present the output to the viewers. That’s why we went ahead with it.”

“Squid Game” season two is set to premiere worldwide on Netflix on Dec. 26.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]