Lee Sun-kyun’s car in which he was found dead after an apparent suicide has been towed away as police begin an investigation into his death.
Lee Sun-kyun’s car in which he was found dead after an apparent suicide has been towed away as police begin an investigation into his death
The ‘Parasite’ actor, 48, was found unconscious in a car in a central Seoul park on Wednesday (27.12.23), South Korea’s emergency office announced, with the country’s Yonhap news agency reporting his body was found after his wife Jeon Hye-jin altered police to what appeared to be a suicide note she had found from her husband.
Dad-of-two Lee, famed for playing the Park family father in the 2019 Best Picture Oscar winner ‘Parasite’, had reportedly been under police investigation over his alleged use of marijuana and other psychoactive drugs – and had been questioned three times by police over his alleged drug use, including a 19 hour interrogation by authorities over the weekend.
Police have been seen investigating the car in which the actor’s body was found at a park in central Seoul, with reports saying authorities had found a charcoal briquette in the passenger seat of the car.
Yonhap reported Lee claimed he had been tricked into taking drugs by a bar hostess who then tried to blackmail him.
Those convicted of drug related offences in South Korea face tough punishments, with repeat offenders and dealers often facing up to 14 years in jail.
Lee won a Screen Actors Guild Award along with his Parasite castmates in 2020, briefly spoke with reporters in late October before entering an Incheon police station, telling press: “I sincerely apologise for causing great disappointment to many people by being involved in such an unpleasant incident. I feel sorry for my family, which is enduring such difficult pain at this moment.”
Lee married his girlfriend of seven years Jeon Hye-jin in May 2009, with the couple having two sons.