Lee Sun-kyun, star of Oscar-winning film 'Parasite,' dead at 48, police say
Lee starred in Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning film.
"Parasite" actor Lee Sun-kyun has died, the actor's management and South Korean police confirmed to ABC News.
The 48-year-old was found unconscious in a car at Waryong Park in central Seoul at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, law enforcement said. Officials were investigating the death as a possible suicide, police said.
"There’s no way to contain sorrow and despair," HODU&U Entertainment, the actor's management company, said in a statement.
Lee's representatives asked the public to "refrain from spreading false facts based on speculation and malicious reports so that the deceased's final journey will not be unfair."
Lee was one of the stars of "Parasite," director Bong Joon Ho's Oscar Best Picture winner in 2020. He starred the following year in "Dr. Brain," a sci-fi series on Apple TV+, playing a role that earned him a nomination for best actor in the 2022 International Emmy Awards.
The actor had gone through rigorous police questioning since late October for suspicions of his use of marijuana and other drugs that are illegal in South Korea.
Police had said that the actor had consumed drugs at the home of a hostess, who worked at a high-end bar in Seoul, on multiple occasions since early this year. Lee’s lawyers had said he was tricked into taking drugs and that he didn’t know whether they were drugs.
The actor had gone through three rounds of questioning by the police as part of a wider drug investigation into illegal circulation of drugs among bars in the city's posh Gangnam district.
He tested negative in two rounds of drug tests by the National Forensic Service in November. The actor also has filed a complaint against the hostess and another unnamed person for allegedly blackmailing and swindling him out of money.
The actor's funeral will be for family and colleagues, according to the management company.
"We express our deepest condolences on the deceased's final journey," the statement concluded.
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