Mourners carrying a coffin and portrait of South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun leave after his funeral in Seoul, South Korea, Dec 29, 2023. Photo: Reuters
A private funeral for late South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was held at the Seoul National University Hospital on Dec 29, after which his body was taken to a crematorium.
The ceremony was attended by his wife, actress Jeon Hye-jin, his two sons, and many of the Parasite star’s colleagues, including Gong Hyo-jin, Ryu Seung-ryong and Lee Sung-min.
Parasite (2019) director Bong Joon-ho and co-stars Park So-dam and Park Myung-hoon visited the funeral home on Dec 28, as did acclaimed auteur Park Chan-wook and actors Jung Woo-sung and Lee Jung-jae.
Grieving fans of the 48-year-old actor stuck handwritten notes at the front of the hospital.
One wrote: “Thank you for being Lee Sun-kyun. The works you have created with your efforts and sincerity have saved countless people. We’re sorry we couldn’t do anything for you when you were having a hard time.”
A series of entertainment industry events in South Korea were cancelled so that people could offer condolences to Lee.
Seoul’s Gangnam district – known for expensive apartments, high-end bars, clubs and a cluster of plastic surgery clinics – has been at the centre of a series of high-profile drug scandals.
Lee had been suspected of using illicit drugs at the residence of a hostess employed at a high-end bar in the glamorous district.
He had denied knowingly taking the drugs, saying he was “tricked” into doing so by the hostess, against whom he had filed a complaint for blackmail and extortion, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
Lee had tested negative for drugs twice, once during police investigations and again in a lab last month, Yonhap reported.
South Korean police said on Dec 29 they had transferred a plastic surgeon, who operates a clinic in Gangnam, to the prosecution for the alleged illegal supply of drugs to the bar hostess.
Among the drugs that Lee allegedly took was ketamine, which was involved in a 2018 date-rape scandal at Gangnam’s Burning Sun nightclub, then run by the now-disgraced and convicted K-pop star Seungri.
This year, a man was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating a kidnapping and murder that involved ketamine also illicitly obtained from a plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam.
Lee’s death has prompted public criticism of the media and police, who questioned him for 19 hours a few days before his death.
“There was no need to name the suspect in the investigation”, Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korea studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
“In South Korea – to a much larger degree than in any European country with higher degrees of tolerance for the use of psychotropic stuff – being named as a suspect in a drug investigation is a punishment per se, by social ostracism.”
Yu Hyun-jae, a communications professor at Sogang University, told a local broadcaster that Lee’s case can be considered a “social murder”, with the media, police and the public sharing responsibility.
The hearse carrying the casket of late South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun leaves a funeral hall after his funeral ceremony at the Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul on Dec 29, 2023. The late South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun's body was transported from the funeral home to a crematorium in a private ceremony on Dec 29, with his death raising questions about alleged harsh police practices and media sensationalism. Photo: AFP
Incheon Metropolitan Police chief Kim Hee-joong defended the “entire investigation process”, which he said was conducted “in compliance with legal procedures”.
“There was no leakage (to media) of investigation details as raised by some,” he told reporters on Thursday.
South Korea has tough laws on illegal drugs, with President Yoon Suk Yeol declaring a “war on drugs” after taking office last year. – AFP
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