Lee Sun-kyun, best known to Western audiences as the rich Park family patriarch in Parasite, has died aged 48. He was found unconscious in his car in Seoul amid weeks of intense scrutiny about his alleged drug use. Lee was being investigated by police after allegedly using drugs at the home of a bar hostess. However, Lee claimed that he had been tricked into doing drugs as part of a blackmail scheme. At the time of his death, Lee was seeking legal action against the two people he was accusing of blackmail. While South Korea’s drug laws are incredibly strict, there has been a steady rise in the number of drug-related arrests in recent years.
However, the scrutiny around the allegations and now Lee’s death, has sparked massive debate in South Korea. “Lee faced some allegations but they haven’t been formally verified. But the media has been assertively reporting about Lee’s private life … and I think that’s something wrong,” media professor Kang Youn-gon told the Associated Press. There has been a spate of high-profile suicides in South Korea in recent years. This includes several K-Pop stars and other major celebrities.
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Who Is Lee Sun-kyun?
While best known to Western audiences for his Oscar-winning role in Parasite, Lee was a superstar in South Korea. He found his breakout in 2007 with the medical drama White Tower and rom-com Coffee Prince. He would build a name for himself over the coming years, including in a trio of projects with acclaimed director Kwon Seok-jang. This led to 2018’s My Mister before Lee was cast in Parasite. Parasite would go on to become the first non-English language film to win the Best Picture Award at the Oscars.
The cause of Lee’s death has not been confirmed. South Korean police have refused to provide details beyond confirming that they found Lee in his car. However, several South Korean outlets reported his death as a suspected suicide. Outlets such as Yonhap have reported that Lee’s family told police that the actor had left a suicide note before he disappeared last week. This remains a developing story.
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