Lee Sun-kyun, a South Korean actor best known for his part in the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, was found dead in central Seoul. It looks like he killed himself.
The actor's body was found in a car near a city park on Wednesday. He was 48 years old. The Yonhap news agency says they think Lee killed himself.
Police had already said that they had heard he had left his house after writing a note.Since October, he had been being looked into for using drugs without a prescription.
Police found Lee's body in his car near Waryong Park and took it to Seoul National University Hospital. News sources say that his family has refused an autopsy and that he will be buried on Friday.
The police have started an investigation to find out more about his death, such as when he got to the place where his body was found and when he died.
In Parasite, Lee played the head of the rich Park family that is infiltrated by members of a poor family who are pretending to be someone else. The mean-spirited social satire got four Oscars, including the one for best picture.
Yonhap said that he was thought to have used drugs like ketamine and marijuana with a bar waitress in Seoul. He said that even though he took the drugs she gave him, he didn't know they were illegal.
It was said that the hostess told the cops that he used drugs at her house more than once, which he denied. He had asked to take a lie detector test before through his agent.The story also said that his drug tests came back negative or not clear.
News1 Korea reported that police said they were sorry Lee had died while they were investigating, but that the investigation had been "conducted with [his] consent." Three rounds of questions were done on Lee. According to Yonhap, one session last Saturday lasted 19 hours.
LEE's management company, HODU&U Entertainment, said in a statement, "There is no way to hold the sadness and hopelessness." In order to make sure Lee's last trip is fair, we kindly ask that you stop spreading rumors that aren't true.
Online, people were very upset when they heard about his death.
"I can't picture how hard it must have been for him." "Rest in peace," one note said on a news story.
"Aren't famous people real people?" In life, people can do bad things. "It's so sad," said someone else.
His work was also praised.
"I laughed and cried a lot while watching your acting," one friend wrote on X (which used to be Twitter). Thanks a lot."
He had a career that lasted more than twenty years and was married to actress Jeon Hye-jin. They had two young sons together.
Because he played the lead in so many movies and TV shows, he became a well-known name by the 2010s.
His movie Parasite made him famous all over the world because it was the first movie not in English to win the Best Picture Oscar.
In South Korea, people expect famous people to behave properly.
Lee had a reputation for being a good family man before he was accused of using drugs, but the stories that came out of the investigation did a lot of damage to his image.
In late October, before going into a police station to be questioned, he told reporters, "I truly apologize for making many people very disappointed by being involved in such an unpleasant incident."
"I feel sorry for my family, which is enduring such difficult pain at this moment."
Lee was fired from the mystery TV show No Way Out, which launched in October. It was said that some businesses were seen taking down Lee-related signs and ads from their windows.
Criminal offenses regarding drugs, even marijuana use, are taken very seriously in South Korea. People who use marijuana can get up to five years in jail.
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has promised to crack down on drugs. The country's police department for drug crimes grew this year, and the head of the national police force promised "a total war" on drug crimes.
Lee is not the only famous South Korean person who has been recently looked into for drug use. After weeks of probes, K-pop star G-Dragon was cleared of drug charges earlier this month.
The actor Yoo Ah-in is on trial right now for drug use.
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