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- Lee Sun-kyun was found dead Wednesday, per reports.
- According to South Korean media, the actor was found dead in his car.
- The actor was best known for his role as the wealthy father in "Parasite."
South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found dead inside a car, police announced Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Lee, who played the wealthy patriarch Park Dong-ik in the Oscar-winning movie "Parasite" was 48 years old.
Yonhap News Agency, citing police, said that Lee was found at a park with a charcoal briquette in his passenger seat. Police also told the agency that his wife had reported that he walked out of his home after leaving what appeared to be a suicide note.
Before this, investigators had been looking into allegations that the actor had been using illegal substances and marijuana at a bar in Seoul. Per Yonhap, the actor denied that he ever intentionally took drugs and said that a hostess gave him the drugs without his knowledge.
He was most recently questioned about the claims of drug use on Sunday in a 19-hour interrogation, Yonhap reported.
Lee was most known overseas for his role in the 2019 thriller "Parasite," which won him a Screen Actors Guild award. But in South Korea, his work spans over a decade.
Per the AP, he became a household name after playing a music producer in the 2007 series "Coffee Prince." In 2023, Lee starred in the movie musical "Killing Romance," which became a cult classic in South Korea.
The news of Lee's death comes amid an ongoing crackdown on drug crimes in the country.
In April, the South Korean government established a unit of 840 officials to investigate crimes such as drug smuggling and drug dealing over the internet, per Yonhap.
South Korea has strict drug laws, and repeat offenders or dealers can face up to 14 years in prison, per Reuters.
Citizens can also be prosecuted for drug use even if they did so legally abroad.
There's also been a spate of high-profile drug scandals involving popular Korean celebrities in recent years.
In July 2017, singer T.O.P. from Big Bang was given a 10-month jail sentence for smoking marijuana with a trainee singer at his home in Seoul, per Yonhap.
In October, actor Yoo Ah-in — known for his roles in the 2018 film "Burning" and the Netflix series "Hellbound" — was indicted for using drugs habitually, per The Korea Times.
Yoo was investigated after the country's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety accused him of taking propofol, a sleep-inducing drug, 73 times in 2021, per The Korea Times.