Lee Sun-kyun death: Parasite actor underwent 19-hour interrogation in drugs case, had asked for a lie detector test to prove innocence

Born in 1975, actor Lee Sun-kyun was a popular name in the Korean cinema. After graduating from Korea National University of Arts, he started his acting journey in 2001 with the television sitcom Lovers. He gained worldwide acclaim after he essayed the role of Park Dong-ik, the head of the wealthy Park family in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Parasite. The entire cast of the movie, including Lee, won the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.

Besides Parasite, Lee Sun-kyun had several popular South Korean projects to his credit including Payback, Diary of a Prosecutor, My Mister, Killing Romance, and Kingmaker, among others. After Parasite, the actor gained prominence for his work in Apple TV Plus' first South Korean series Dr. Brain. The show even won him a nomination in the Best Actor category at the 2022 International Emmy Awards.

His last film was the horror drama, Sleep, where he essayed the role of a sleepwalking husband. The film won critical acclaim and was featured at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The actor is survived by his actor-wife Jeon Hye-jin and two sons.

As per the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, the 48-year-old actor was found dead in a car parked at a Seoul park on Wednesday. It said a charcoal briquette was discovered in the car's passenger seat. The police were searching for him after his wife made a distress call to them that the actor had left home and she had found a message from him which, as per her, read like a suicide note.

Members of the Korea Crime Scene Investigation team investigate the scene where South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found unconscious in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (Seo Dae-youn/Yonhap via AP)

The Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun was under police investigation for the alleged use of an illegal drug at the house of a hostess of a high-end bar in Seoul. He was being investigated by South Korea’s Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency. Reuters reported that he was questioned thrice by the police officials, with one session running 19 hours over this weekend.

However, Lee claimed he was blackmailed by one of the other accused persons in the same case and reported that he had lost several hundreds of thousands of dollars to the alleged extortionist. Also, he said he was unaware that the substance he was consuming was an illicit drug.

According to Korean news outlet Yonhap, Lee tested negative in two drug tests, one was a quick reagent test by the police and another a lab-based test by the National Forensic Service. However, the hostess who accused Lee maintained her claims. So, Lee requested the police to conduct a polygraph test to find out who is lying.

Lee's lawyer told Yonhap, “The National Forensic Service’s drug test should have been positive if she was telling the truth, but it was negative. Lee is in a very unjust situation, so a lie detector test should be done on both of them to scientifically confirm who is lying and who is not.”

South Korea has strict laws against the consumption of illicit drugs and drug crimes. They can lead to six months of imprisonment which can go up to 14 years for repeat offenders and dealers.

The Guardian reported that Lee briefly spoke to reporters in late October before investigation at the Incheon police station. He said, "I sincerely apologise for causing great disappointment to many people by being involved in such an unpleasant incident. I feel sorry for my family, which is enduring such difficult pain at this moment."

After the actor's death, his agency, HODU&U Entertainment, said in a statement, "There is no way to contain the sorrow and despair. We respectfully ask that you refrain from spreading false facts based on speculation... so that [Lee's] final journey will not be unfair."

BBC quoted a News1 Korea report which mentioned that police regretted that Lee had died in the midst of investigations. But the police also clarified that the investigation was "conducted with [his] consent".