27 December 2023 11:10 am Views - 2373
The actor, 48, is believed to have been found unconscious in a car at a park in central Seoul on Wednesday.
It is unclear if Lee took his own life, but police received a report that he had left home after writing a note, Yonhap news agency said.
He had been under investigation for alleged drug use since October.
Yonhap reports that he was suspected of taking drugs with an employee at a bar in Seoul. He had said that though he had taken what she had given him he had not known that they were illicit drugs.
The hostess had reportedly told the police that he used drugs at her home multiple times - something he denied. He had earlier requested through his lawyer to take a lie detector test.
His drug tests had returned negative or inconclusive results, the report added.
Police said they regretted that Lee had died in the midst of investigations, but that the investigation was "conducted with [his] consent", News1 Korea reported.
Lee's agency, HODU&U Entertainment, said in a statement: "There is no way to contain the sorrow and despair. We respectfully ask that you refrain from spreading false facts based on speculation... so that [Lee's] final journey will not be unfair."
The actor, who was married to and had two sons with actress Jeon Hye-jin, had an acting career spanning more than two decades.
He starred as the lead in dozens of films and TV shows, becoming a household name through the 2010s.
He rose to international fame as Park Dong-ik in Parasite, the father in the wealthy Park family which was later infiltrated by members of a poor family posing as unrelated individuals.
The film swept four awards at the Oscars in 2020, including best picture - becoming the first non-English language film to win the prize.
There has been extensive interest around the drug investigation, which caused considerable damage to Lee's reputation. He was dropped from No Way Out, a mystery TV series that began shooting in October.
Drug offences, including those involving usage of marijuana, are considered serious crimes in South Korea. Consumption of marijuana carries prison sentences of up to five years.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed a crackdown on drugs. This year, the country's authorities expanded its drug crimes department and the national police chief vowed "a total war to stem out drug crimes."
Lee is not the only South Korean celebrity who had been investigated for drug use recently. Earlier this month, K-pop star G-Dragon was cleared of drug allegations after weeks of investigation.
Actor Yoo Ah-in is currently standing trial for drug use.