South Korean arts and culture organizations, artists and filmmakers, including Bong Joon-ho, have joined together to call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of actor Lee Sun-kyun. Lee, whose credits include Bong’s Oscar winning Parasite, died last month in an apparent suicide at the age of 48.
At the time, he was under investigation for alleged drug use at the home of a hostess working at a high-end bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Yonhap reported that Lee had been questioned multiple times by authorities, including for 19 hours the weekend prior to his death. The actor had said he was tricked into taking drugs. Last Friday, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency referred two women, including a bar hostess, to the prosecution for further investigation and potential indictment on charges of blackmailing Lee for 350 million won ($266K), Yonhap reported.
This week, according to the Korea Herald, an organization calling itself The Association of Solidarity of Cultural Artists and made up of 29 culture and arts groups, including the Busan Film Festival, released a statement urging authorities and the media to prevent similar deaths in the future.
The statement, per the Korea Herald, said, “In the face of the tragic death of actor Lee Sun-kyun, we shared the same heart that this should never happen again. We will call for investigation officials’ probe to discover the truth, request media outlets to delete articles that do not fit their function as media, as well as urge authorities to revise the law to protect the human rights of artists.”
A press conference was held in Seoul on Friday with such figures as Bong, filmmaker Lee Won-tae (The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil) and the head of the Producers Guild of Korea, Choi Jeong-hwa, in attendance.
The event organizers allowed no questions or photos.
Actor Choi Duk-moon was emcee for a revolving series of speakers, each calling for justice and reform. Speakers included Yoon Jong shin, Lee Wontae, Kim Eui Sung, Producers Guild of Korea representative Choi Jung-hwa, Koh Young Jae of the Independent Film Association, director Jang Hang-joon, Kwak Shin Ae (representing both production firm Barunson and Women in Film), Yoon Jong-shin, director Lee Won-tae, Lee Ju-yeon, of the Korean Film Marketing Association and PGK chair Choi Jung Haw.
“We hope that such a tragedy will not happen again in the process of investigating pop culture artists. This is the demand of the cultural and artistic community facing the death of the late Lee Sun-kyun,” said Yoon Jong-shin.
“I demand that the authorities investigate. We demand that the police investigate whether there was any lapse in the security of the investigation from the moment the details of the deceased’s investigation were first exposed until two months later. We want to know if there was no individual media contact during the investigation, and we want the results to be made public so that there is no doubt,” said Bong Joon-ho, tearing up.
