Actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning “Parasite” was found dead in an apparent suicide Wednesday while facing an investigation over suspected drug use.
A man in his 40s was found unconscious in a car at a park in central Seoul at 10:30 a.m., and the police later identified him as Lee. In the passenger seat was a charcoal briquette.
The police earlier received a report that Lee left home after writing a memo akin to a suicide note and that his car was gone.
“As he was pronounced dead, he wasn’t taken to hospital,” a fire official said.
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.
The actor 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.
The previous day, Lee submitted a polygraph test request to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency charged with the investigation, claiming his innocence.
Lee rose to global fame after “Parasite,” in which he played a main role, won Academy Awards in 2020. (Yonhap)