'Parasite' actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead in apparent suicide amid drug probe
Actor Lee Sun-kyun arrives at an office of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul, for the third round of questioning on suspicions of drug use, Dec. 23. Yonhap
Actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" was found dead in an apparent suicide Wednesday amid an investigation into suspected drug use.
Police found a man in his 40s unconscious in a car near Waryong Park in central Seoul at 10:30 a.m. and later identified him as Lee. A charcoal briquette, which can cause fatal carbon monoxide poisoning, was found on the vehicle's front passenger seat.
Lee's manager had earlier reported to the police that the actor left home after writing a memo akin to a suicide note and that his car was gone. The manager had visited Lee's home in Cheongdam-dong in southern Seoul as he was out of contact.
Lee's body was later taken to Seoul National University Hospital.
Lee has gone through three rounds of police questioning on suspicions of using marijuana and other illegal drugs at the home of a hostess working at a high-end bar in Seoul's Gangnam district on multiple occasions since early this year, including last Saturday, when the questioning lasted for 19 hours.
The police booked Lee as a suspect in late October in the drug investigation, which was prompted by a tipoff that drugs were being illegally circulated among bars in Gangnam.
The actor reportedly claimed he was tricked by the hostess into taking the drugs and that he did not know what he was taking.
Lee tested negative in both the brief reagent test conducted during police investigations and the lab-based drug test by the National Forensic Service last month.
In his first appearance for questioning on Oct. 28, Lee apologized for "causing immense disappointment," saying, "I am sorry for my family, who are enduring extreme pain at this moment."
Lee also filed a complaint against two people, including the hostess, accusing them of blackmailing and swindling him out of money.
Claiming his innocence, he also submitted a polygraph test request the previous day. His lawyer had insisted that a lie detector test should be used to determine the truth between Lee and the hostess, who has reportedly told the police that the actor used drugs at her home multiple times.
The 48-year-old actor rose to global fame after "Parasite," in which he played a major role, won Academy Awards in 2020.
In 2021, the veteran actor won a Screen Actors Guild Award, along with his "Parasite" cast mates. Last year, he was also nominated for the best actor award at the International Emmy Awards for his role in the sci-fi film "Dr. Brain."
This year, Lee's two movies — the horror flick "Sleep" by Jason Yu and Kim Tae-gon's disaster thriller "Project Silence" — were invited to the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival, with the former in the competition section of Cannes Critics' Week, a parallel film festival of the Cannes Film Festival, and the latter in the Midnight Screening section. (Yonhap)