Lee Sun Kyun’s death took place two months after the Parasite actor was heavily investigated for drug usage. Lee was only 48 at the time of his death.
In October 2023, the Incheon Police Agency launched an investigation against the actor after they were tipped by a woman named Park about the actor’s drug usage at a bar.
The actor was tested for drugs four times, and even though none of the tests came out positive, police refused to close the investigation against the actor. With his reputation ruined, the actor took the harshest step possible.
When the actor was embroiled in the drug controversy, his movie, The Land of Happiness, was in post-production. Recently, several Korean media outlets have reported that the film will hit cinemas in August.
Parasite Actor Lee Sun-kyun’s Cause of Death
News of Lee Sun-kyun’s death sent shockwaves in the South Korean movie industry in December 2023. The actor, who was only 48 years old, took his own life in his car in Seoul.
A man who had earned a stellar reputation as a family man in his country, Lee lived the ideal life that Korean society wants the world to know about.
Lee had a happy married life with his wife, Jeon Hye-jin, was a father of two sons, and had an outstanding acting career that was only growing in popularity as he aged. But something changed in October 2023.
The wholesome reputation that Lee had created for himself was about to collapse. Incheon Metropolitan Agency launched an investigation against Lee for recreational drug use.
It was reported that Lee had taken drugs together with the offspring of the head of an industrial conglomerate.
The actor’s attorney refuted the claims and said Lee didn’t know them. But his attorney didn’t deny Lee’s drug usage and said his client would cooperate with the police for further investigation.
After the news of his drug usage broke out, the actor was immediately removed from the new drama No Way Out. Lee was about to play the role of a detective in the film.
The studio producing the movie released a statement stating they were searching for an actor to replace Lee. The actor’s other works, Project Silence and Land of Heaven were also affected by the news. The Parasite actor’s reputation tumbled down quickly in his country, where drug usage is no less than a sin.
Death Not By Suicide But Due To Humiliation
Despite being a technologically advanced nation and one of the most developed countries in the world, South Korea still has a conservative society. A society that will judge you harshly if you do not abide by the traditions.
The East Asian country has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. Drug usage is taken as a criminal case rather than a health issue. Lee’s close friend and film producer, Jang Won-seok, said that character assassination pushed Lee to take his life.
The actor was drug tested four times and once interrogated for 19 hours straight. On top of his drug usage, Lee was also scrutinized for using these drugs at a bar with female escorts. It further dampened his reputation as a family man.
How Did The Investigation Against Lee Began?
The investigation against Lee started after a woman with the last name Park accused a former friend of hers and a movie star of being drug users.
Her former friend happened to be a woman with the last name Kim, who later provided details about Lee and his drug usage. During the ongoing investigation, Lee then accused the two women of blackmailing him and extorting close to $262,000 from him.
Of his four drug tests, one was found inconclusive, and three were negative, proving that the actor hadn’t taken drugs for more than a year. But the South Korean media were out for blood and didn’t stop hounding the actor.
And it looked like the Incheon Police Agency wanted the actor to face public humiliation from which he would never come out. Even after Lee was not detected positive for a drug test, they kept the investigation open.
A phone call between Kim and Lee was leaked in November, a piece of evidence held by the police agency.
The two appeared to be flirting, and Kim steered the conversation to drugs, but Lee’s response was evasive. The national broadcaster KBS had already released the phone call and Incheon police denied leaking it.
In only about two months, the South Korean media published nearly 3000 online news about the late actor. The majority of the news showed the actor in a negative light.
Read More: Actor Julian Sands Went Missing in January 2023; His Cause of Death?
Bong Joon Ho Called For Thorough Probe Into Lee Sun-Kyun’s Death
Parasite’s director, Bong Joon Ho, and several other artists, part of the Association of Solidarity Among Cultural Artists, released a planned statement in a nationally televised press conference in Seoul in January.
The director criticized how police handled Lee’s drug investigation. In the statement released by the director and other artists, they urged relevant officials to investigate problems with security in the police investigation.
They also questioned whether the Korean media had sensationalized reports about Lee’s private life. Some of the reports released by the media weren’t even related to the drug investigation.
There were people online who supported Lee and spoke against the harshness of South Korea’s law against drug use. One comment read, “Lee didn’t die because of drugs, he died because of the humiliation other people gave him.”
Lee Sun-Kyun’s Net Worth At The Time Of His Death
The popular South Korean actor Lee Sun-Kyun reportedly had a net worth of $11 million at the time of his demise. Lee was not only an actor with critical acclaim but also was commercially successful.
He began his career in 2000 with a short film. 2007 was the breakthrough year for the actor as he starred not in one successful TV series but in two.
He played Choi Do-youn in the medical drama Behind the White Tower and Choi Han Sung in the series Coffee Prince. During the 2010s, the actor booked several successful movies such as Helpless and All About My Wife.
After playing the role of Park Dong-ik in Parasite, the actor received critical acclaim in his country and internationally. Lee, alongside his cast members, received an SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
One of Lee Sun-kyun’s last projects, Sleep was screened at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023. Earlier this year, in January, the movie won the Grand Prix at the Gérardmer International Fantasy Film Festival in France.
From reading celebrity blinds to keeping up with scores of all the different sports happening worldwide, Shreeyukta can’t simply have enough of the entertainment world.
