Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun’s cause of death revealed as it emerges drug cops snubbed his request for ‘low key’ interview
PARASITE star Lee Sun-kyun’s cause of death has been revealed after his body was discovered inside a car in Seoul yesterday morning.
The South Korean actor, 48, was being investigated on suspicion of using marijuana and other illegal drugs over the course of this year.
Police located his body in a car near Waryong Park in central Seoul at 10.30am yesterday – after reportedly rejecting his request to make the details of the investigation into his alleged drug use private.
It has now been reported Sun-kyun may have died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The actor had earlier left a memo akin to a suicide note at his home in Cheongdam-dong, his manager reportedly told police.
Sun-kyun’s manager went to the property after failing to get a hold of him and promptly alerted police to the note and to the fact his car was missing, South Korean news agency Yonhap News reports.
Police reportedly believe Sun-kyun took his own life. His body was taken to Seoul National University Hospital for his funeral.
According to local media, an investigation was launched to determine the exact circumstances, including the time, of Sun-kyun’s death but officials said no autopsy will be conducted as per his family’s wishes.
The Parasite star reportedly said sorry to his family and agency members in the note found in his home.
He was last pictured on Saturday, arriving at a police station in Incheon for a grilling that supposedly lasted 19 hours.
Police officials revealed today the late actor had asked through his lawyer that his final appearance for questioning not be open to the press, but police rejected the request, The Korea Times reports.
The actor reportedly tested negative for drugs in two recent tests and endured three rounds of police questioning before his death.
All three rounds of Sun-kyun’s appearances drew intense media coverage and his lawyer indicated as recently as Tuesday that the actor felt “burdened” by the public nature of police proceedings.
The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, responsible for the investigation, acknowledged receiving a request from his lawyer – reportedly submitted the day before Sun-kyun was found dead – for any future appearances to be behind closed doors.
An official at the police agency said: “It’s correct that bringing people behind closed doors conforms to the principles.
“There was never an incident in which police released the schedule of Lee’s questioning first,” Yonhap News reports.
Chief of the police agency Kim Hui-jung defended the tough questioning before the actor was found dead.
He told a news briefing: “The investigation of the deceased was conducted based on specific reports, testimony and evidence and under legally prescribed procedures.”
The cop expressed “deep regret” over Sun-kyun’s death and offered condolences to his family, but emphasised the questioning was necessary to hear his side.
Yoon Hee-keun, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, rejected that unreasonable police investigations led to the 48-year-old’s death but said he would look into investigation practices and correct any problems should they surface, The Korea Times reports.
It was earlier revealed Sun-kyun had volunteered to take a lie detector test that he hoped would prove his innocence in the drug use crimes he was alleged to have committed.
Legal sources reportedly said he submitted a polygraph test request through his lawyer to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency in Incheon, about 30km west of Seoul in South Korea, on Tuesday.
He was accused of using illegal drugs at the home of a high-end bar hostess on multiple occasions throughout this year.
But he claimed the hostess tricked him in a blackmail plot and extorted him for $270,000 (£212,000), local media reported.
Drug laws in South Korea are notoriously strict and those found guilty of drug crimes face jail sentences of between six months and 14 years.
The bar hostess, whose identity is not known, is said to be aged in her 20s and have worked at a high-end bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district.
Sun-kyun alleged she tricked him into using drugs and claimed he didn’t know what he was consuming.
He said during questioning that he had met the hostess four times and inhaled powder through his nose which he thought was a crushed sleeping pill but the woman later said was ketamine.
Just before his first police summons, and only weeks before his death, he made a heartbreaking public statement apologising to his fans for the “great disappointment” he had caused.
The actor told reporters: “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.”
On Christmas Eve, following Saturday’s hours-long questioning session with police, he said: “I feel like it is a bit too late, but I’ve finished the questioning by the police about the blackmail case.
“I hope the police wisely determine which statements are more reliable between mine and the blackmailer’s.”
The Parasite star was reportedly dropped from several major TV projects when the drug use allegations were made public in October.
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