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Actor Lee Sun Kyun at the Emmy Awards in November 2022

Photograph:

Angela Weiss / AFP

Following the alleged suicide of actor Lee Sun Kyun, numerous South Korean artists are calling for an investigation into the role of the police and the media. Lee, who rose to fame with the Oscar-winning social satire "Parasite," was found dead in his car at the end of December.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the 48-year-old star left a "note that reads like a will." The actor had been in the sights of the police since October on suspicion of drug use. According to Yonhap, he was interrogated for 19 hours a few days before his death.

»Parasite« director Bong Joon Ho and other representatives of the South Korean entertainment industry have now criticized the work of the authorities. At a press conference in Seoul on Friday, Bong Joon Ho said, "We are pushing for a thorough investigation by the authorities to determine whether there were any security gaps in the police investigation."

Laws for the Protection of Artists

Bong quoted from a joint statement by thirty institutions, including film festivals as well as unions of actors and screenwriters. An investigation must be carried out into whether confidential information about Lee's drug investigation was illegally leaked to the media, it said.

In their statement, the signatories call for a tightening of laws to better protect artists – and more caution in the media. "I hope that such tragedies will never be repeated again in investigations of pop culture artists," actor Kim Eui Sung said at the press conference.

According to information from the South Korean news agency »Yonhap«, Lee was subjected to two drug tests, which were negative. According to the report, the actor himself stated that he had been deliberately "tricked" and blackmailed for money payments.

In South Korea, where extremely strict anti-drug laws apply, the damage to Lee's image was enormous. According to media reports, the actor was banned from television and advertising projects because of the allegations, according to which he is said to have lost income of the equivalent of seven million euros.

ada/AFP