South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known globally for his role in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, was found dead in Seoul yesterday, police said.
The 48-year-old actor was found inside a vehicle parked on the street in the capital’s mid-northern Seongbuk District, a Seongbuk police official said.
Citing police, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that Lee had left a “note that reads like a will.”
Photo: AFP
He had been under police investigation over his alleged use of marijuana and other drugs.
A series of entertainment industry events in South Korea were announced as canceled yesterday to pay condolences to the late actor.
Filmmaker Byun Young-joo, who collaborated with Lee on her 2012 thriller Helpless, honored his memory by posting a pitch-black image on her Instagram account.
Photo: AP
Actress Claudia Kim, also known as Kim Soo-hyun, wrote on the social media platform that Lee’s death was “a loss of great talent” for the industry.
“Everyone deserves to be forgiven for their mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance,” she wrote.
Once celebrated for his wholesome image, local news outlets reported that the actor was being dropped from television and commercial projects following the scandal.
A graduate of South Korea’s prestigious Korea National University of Arts, Lee made his acting debut in 2001 in a television sitcom titled Lovers.
Lee received widespread critical acclaim for his performance in the 2018 TV drama series My Mister, for his portrayal of a diligent architectural engineer.
Globally, he is best known for his role as the wealthy and shallow patriarch in director Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Oscar-winning film Parasite.
Devastated fans expressed their grief on social media.
“I laughed and cried a lot while watching your acting. Thank you,” one user wrote on X.
Lee’s reputation suffered a significant blow when South Korean authorities launched an investigation into his alleged drug use in October.
He had been suspected of using illicit drugs at the residence of a hostess employed at a high-end bar in Seoul.
The actor asserted that he was “tricked” by the hostess into consuming the drugs and was unaware of what they were, Yonhap reported.
Lee had tested negative for drugs twice, during police investigations and in a laboratory test last month, the news agency reported.
He had also lodged a complaint against two individuals, including the hostess, alleging that they had blackmailed him and extorted money from him.
From Saturday to Sunday last week, he attended his third police investigation session, which lasted 19 hours, Yonhap reported.
Lee is survived by his wife, actress Jeon Hye-jin, and two sons.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS