South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, famed for his role in smash-hit movie «Parasite,» but recently hit by drug allegations, died Wednesday in an apparent suicide.
South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, famed for his role in smash-hit movie “Parasite,” but recently hit by drug allegations, died Wednesday in an apparent suicide.
In a country where high-profile suicides have made global headlines in recent years, the 48-year-old actor’s death prompted immediate national media attention.
The development came in the wake of local news reports that Mr. Lee had been grilled by police during the Christmas weekend over alleged drug use. He reportedly requested a lie detector during the questioning. His drug tests proved negative.
Per reports, Mr. Lee said he had been tricked into taking drugs by a bar hostess in Seoul’s Gangnam area, then blackmailed.
Mr. Lee gained acting fame with a breakthrough role in the 2007 South Korean television drama series “Behind the White Tower.” He later catapulted to global fame with his role as the wealthy family patriarch in the 2019 black comedy “Parasite.”
The South Korean film’s take on middle-class angst captured the world’s pre-COVID zeitgeist. In 2020, it became the first foreign-language film to win the best-picture Oscar in Hollywood.
South Korean self killings
South Korea suffers the highest per capita suicide rate in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international forum of 37 democracies with market-based economies around the world.
The South Korean rate of 24.
