Seoul: 'Parasite' actor Lee Sun-kyun, who was under investigation for alleged drug use, died after he was found unconscious in his car in Central Seoul on Wednesday. Reports suggest that the actor died by suicide. Though there has been no confirmation regarding the same, a report by bbc.com claimed that the police received a report that he had left home after writing a note.
The South Korean actor starred in the 2020 Oscar best picture winner 'Parasite', in which he played Park Dong-ik, the father in the wealthy Park family which was later infiltrated by members of a poor family posing as unrelated individuals.
The actor was under investigation for alleged drug use since October. Lee, 48, who met a gory end in the 2019 film, South Korea's first to win any Oscar, had faced police questioning three times over accusations of illegal drug use amid a government crackdown, with one session running 19 hours over the weekend.
The actor had said he was tricked into taking drugs by a bar hostess trying to blackmail him, a local news agency reported. Authorities found Lee in a search triggered by a missing person report, a fire official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, as the matter is a sensitive one.
He had earlier requested a lie detector test and his drug tests had returned negative or inconclusive. Police said that they regretted that Lee had died in the midst of investigations, but that the investigation was "conducted with (his) consent", News1 Korea reported.
Lee's agency, HODU&U Entertainment, said: "There is no way to contain the sorrow and despair. We respectfully ask that you refrain from spreading false facts based on speculation... so that (Lee's) final journey will not be unfair."
There has been extensive interest around the investigation, which caused considerable damage to Lee's reputation. He was dropped from 'No Way Out', a mystery TV series that began shooting in October. The actor, who was married to and had two sons with actress Jeon Hye-jin, had an acting career spanning more than two decades. Lee, born in 1975, had leading roles in South Korean films such as the 2012 thriller 'Helpless' and 2014's 'All About My Wife', as well as the acclaimed 2018 TV series 'My Mister.
(With inputs from agencies)