Director Hwang Dong-hyuk's latest offering on Netflix - the Korean survival show Squid Game is breaking the internet for all the right reasons. The show, which premiered globally on September 17, has topped up every viewership chart. However, the makers are now planning to edit an important sequence on the show that highlighted a phone number, which in reality belonged to a woman who received thousands of prank calls and text messages ever since the show premiered.
On Wednesday, Netflix and local production company Siren Pictures said they would edit scenes to remove the phone number, which appears on a mysterious invitation card given to potential players of a series of deadly children's games. Local broadcaster SBS aired an interview last month with the owner of the phone number, who they identified as Kim Gil-young, a woman who runs a business in the southeastern county of Seongju. The woman showed some of the messages she had received, including requests for invitations to join the Squid Game and go "from rags to riches".
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The woman told SBS last month that it was impossible for her to change her number due to client contacts and she had declined an offer of 1 million won ($840) in compensation. SBS has reported that she has since been offered compensation of up to 5 million won.
"Together with the production company, we are working to resolve this matter, including editing scenes with phone numbers where necessary," Netflix said on Wednesday, asking fans to refrain from prank calls or messages.
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