Actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead in a car

Police inspect the scene where actor Lee Sun-gyun, who was under police investigation for allegedly taking drugs, was found dead in a car parked near Warong Park in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Nov. 27. Reporter Cho Tae-hyung phototom@kyunghyang.com

Actor Lee Sun-kyun, 48, who was under police investigation for allegedly taking drugs, has been found dead. His body has been placed in the funeral home of Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

The Seongbuk Police Station in Seoul said on December 27 that Lee was found dead in a vehicle parked on the side of a road in Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. Police found Lee at the scene at around 10:30 a.m. after receiving a 112 call. There were reportedly signs of an attempted suicide at the scene of the accident.

At 10:12 a.m., police received a report stating that Lee had left home the day before and had not returned. The caller was Lee's manager, and according to the report, Lee left a suicide note.

At around 12:30 p.m., a public parking lot along the roadside in Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, where Lee was found, was cordoned off around 12:30 p.m. that day. At one end of the parking lot, Lee's white SUV was parked with its license plate obscured. The scene of the accident is a normally less populated deserted area with two or three cafes and an art gallery dotted along the steep roadside, and few people passed by while the police were conducting their investigation of the scene. "There are no residential areas here, and the commercial area is not active, so this street has less foot traffic. It's not a very popular street," said A, a resident.

"At around 10:50, I saw an ambulance going up the street and it was blocked by police cars," said the owner of a nearby café Mr. B, who runs a cafe nearby. "When the news came out that Lee Sun-kyun was found lying unconscious down, and I saw the police taking pictures of the area, I realized that Lee had died here."

Police clear the scene after actor Lee Sun-kyun, who was under police investigation for allegedly taking drugs, was found dead in a car parked on the side of the road in Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, on Sunday.

A tow truck arrived at around 1 p.m. and loaded Lee's car onto the tow bed. At a briefing, Seongbuk-dong police said, "After the forensic examination of the scene, the body was transferred to Seoul National University Hospital. We are trying to determine Lee's behavior before his death."

At around 3 p.m., Lee's wake was set up at the funeral home of Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Access to the wake was restricted except for mourners. By 4:30 p.m., the area was deserted. The mortuary was visited by fellow actors. Actor Choi Deok-moon, from the same agency, Seol Kyung-gu, who collaborated in the movie, “Kingmaker,” Yoo Jae-myung and Cho Jung-seok, who appeared in the movie “To the Land of Happiness,” which is one of the posthumous works of the deceased, visited the mortuary to express their condolences. Jo Jin-woong, who became close in the movie “A Hard Day,” also visited. Actors Ryu Jun-yeol, Song Young-kyu, Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Sang-ho, Kim Sung-chul, Jang Sung-kyu and Bae Seong-woo also mourned. Director Lee Won-seok of the movie “Killing Romance” and CEO Jang Won-weok of BA Entertainment, who produced the “The Outlaws” series, expressed their condolences as well.

After the news of Lee's death broke, criticism poured in for the police investigation, which was broadcast in real time, and for the media and YouTube channels that recklessly carried unconfirmed and explosive allegations without filtering. The claims of A, 29, the manager of a Gangnam nightclub, who has been claiming claimed that Lee had taken drugs, and the "exclusive" report reporting of a recording of a conversation between Lee and A, were said to have pushed Lee to commit suicide. Public opinion also criticized a far-right YouTube channel that released the recording the day before.

It was also pointed out that the police investigation was too harsh. The police requested three public summons and put him in the photo line. On the same day, "judicial killing" was the top trending topic on X (formerly Twitter). The police responded by saying, "We have been conducting the investigation in accordance with due process," and that "the claims that the police were the source of the investigation, texts, recordings, and other things that came out in the media are not true."

Lee has been under police investigation since early October after being charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act. He was accused of taking drugs such as cannabis and ketamine at the home of A, the manager of Gangnam nightclub. Lee was tested negative in the first and second thorough tests of the National Institute of Scientific Investigation following a simple reagent test. Lee has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that the only evidence related to the alleged drug-taking was A’s statement. He also sued A and others for racketeering charges, insisting, “I didn’t know it was a drug. I was threatened and extorted 350 million won.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.