Lee Sun-kyun, a South Korean actor of the Oscar-winning film Parasite, was found dead on Wednesday, local media reported quoting police.

Lee’s death was also reported by South Korea’s emergency office.

Lee had been under investigation over illegal drug use allegations amid an ongoing government crackdown on illegal drugs.

The 48-year old was found unconscious in a car at a park in Seoul on Wednesday morning, and local media said a charcoal briquette was discovered in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

His wife reported to police that Lee had left home and she had found what appeared to be a suicide note, Yonhap said. Authorities found Lee in a search triggered by the report that he was missing, the fire official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, as the matter is a sensitive one.

South Korea has tough drug laws, and drug crimes are typically punishable by at least six months in prison or up to 14 years for repeat offenders and dealers.

Yonhap reported that Lee had gone through three rounds of police questioning on suspicion of using marijuana and other illegal drugs at the home of a hostess working at a high-end bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district on multiple occasions since early this year, including last Saturday.

The actor claimed he was tricked by the hostess into taking the drugs and that he did not know what he was taking.

Lee tested negative in both the brief reagent test conducted during police investigations and the lab-based drug test by the National Forensic Service last month.

Born in 1975, Lee starred as a rich family’s father in Parasite, and also played leading roles in South Korean movies and TV series including the 2012 thriller Helpless and 2014’s All About My Wife, among others.

Lee had the lead role in Apple TV+‘s first Korean-language original series, which rolled out in 2021. Dr Brain, a six-episode sci-fi thriller, was about a cold-hearted neurologist, Koh Se-won, who tries to find clues to a mysterious family accident through brain experiments. 

Parasite made famous South Korea’s low-income housing units, which are typically underground. They were depicted as dank and dangerous, with one scene showing residents grappling with their possessions as rainwater and sewage floods their home.

Some 200,000 people live in “banjiha” homes in the South Korean capital, which make up about five per cent of households in the city.