Actor Lee from the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" was discovered dead in a narcotics investigation.
December 27, SEOUL (Reuters) - Actor Lee Sun-kyun, from South Korea, gained international recognition for his portrayal of the affluent patriarch in the Oscar-winning movie "Parasite." According to Seoul officials, Lee committed himself and was discovered dead in a park on Wednesday.
In the midst of a government crackdown, Lee, 48, met a grisly end in the 2019 film, which became South Korea's first-ever Oscar winner. During the weekend, he was questioned by police three times on suspicion of using illicit drugs. One of those sessions lasted 19 hours.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the actor claimed that a bar hostess had deceived him into ingesting narcotics in an attempt to blackmail him.
A fire official told Reuters, under condition of anonymity, that Lee was discovered by authorities after a search that was prompted by a missing person complaint. The issue at hand is delicate.
According to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity, Lee was discovered in a car in a park in Seoul after his manager informed authorities the actor had left home and left behind what appeared to be a suicide note.
Calls to Lee's agency, HODU&U Entertainment, went unanswered.
The agency did, however, release a statement that was quoted by the local media, expressing regret for the loss and advising caution when it came to rumors, conjecture, or malicious claims.
Violations of the severe drug laws in South Korea carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for repeat offenders and dealers, or six months in detention.
After receiving six Oscar nominations, Bong Joon-ho's dark-comedy thriller "Parasite" won the best picture, best director, best original screenplay, and best foreign feature film Oscars in 2020.
With this achievement, the movie became the first non-English picture to take home the best picture trophy. Bong celebrated its widespread appeal as evidence that the "one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles" was no longer an obstacle to success on a worldwide scale.
Lee portrayed Mr. Park in the movie, an upscale home invaded by members of a lower class family acting as highly skilled domestic staff in a complex plot that culminates in bloodshed.
Lee, who was born in 1975, played major parts in popular South Korean TV shows "My Mister" (2018) and films, including the critically acclaimed thriller "Helpless" (2012) and "All About My Wife" (2014).
In the first Korean-language original series for Apple TV+, which debuted in 2021, he portrayed the lead role.
"Dr. Brain" was a six-episode science fiction thriller about a heartless physician using brain research to try and piece together the details of an unexplained family disaster.
Jeon Hye-jin, an award-winning actress, is Lee's wife. The two of them have two children.
Additional reporting from Minwoo Park and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Josh Smith, and Hyonhee Shin; Josh Smith wrote the article, while Clarence Fernandez edited it.
