The suicide of a leading South Korean actor accused of sexual assault has triggered a backlash against the nation’s growing #MeToo movement, with critics charging that it has devolved into a witch hunt that promotes prejudice against men.

Jo Min-ki was found hanged in his apartment building in Seoul on Friday afternoon. Mr Jo, 52, was best known for his roles in a number of television series, including “Love and Ambition”, but had been fired in February from his position as a drama professor at Cheongju University after eight women came forward to allege that he had raped and sexually assaulted them.

Mr Jo was due to turn himself in to police for questioning on Monday morning and left a six-page suicide note in which he apologised to his family and students, local media reported, although the police have declined to release the full contents of the note.

On Friday, an Instagram post by Yoo Ah-in, another actor, showed images of people being burned at the stake in medieval Europe, provoking a storm of online criticism from supporters of the #MeToo campaign.

The Facebook page of one of the women who accused Mr Jo of sexual assault has also been inundated “with malicious comments”, the Korea Herald reported, with posters insisting she was responsible for the actor’s death and that she should have filed a legal complaint rather than making her allegations via social media sites.