Netizens hold police countable for the tragic passing of actor Lee Sun-kyun amid his ongoing drug investigation
Lee Sun-kyun was found dead in his car at a park in Seoul on December 27th. After reaching his career peak, the actor took his life while dealing with a drug scandal.
The police booked Lee Sun-kyun on charges of administrating marijuana and psychiatric drugs based on a testimony of A, the head of an entertainment establishment suspected of taking drugs with the actor, and has been under investigation since October. However, Lee Sun-kyun sued A and her accomplice for threatening and extorting 350 million won from him.
Lee Sun-kyun appeared in front of reporters when attending the first two police summons in October and November. Prior to the third summon on December 23rd, he asked for a private investigation, but the police responded, “It’s hard to do that”, and rejected his request.
Rejecting Lee Sun-kyun’s request for a private summon is actually against the rules on police investigation privacy. Nevertheless, it is unavoidable that netizens criticized the police for ignoring Lee Sun-kyun and made him stand in front of media outlets.
Netizens’ criticism continued as they believed the police were conducting an unreasonable investigation. First of all, the identity of Lee Sun-kyun had already been revealed even before the official investigation began. Even after Lee Sun-kyun received negative results in all kinds of drug tests, the investigation continued. In the process, a recording suggesting Lee Sun-kyun’s suspicious relationship with A was released and the actor’s statement of inhaling drugs with his nose using a straw thinking it was a sleeping pill was reported on the 26th, a day before his death.
As such, many people are blaming the police for the passing of Lee Sun-kyun, claiming that they pressured the deceased with an unreasonable investigation and shamed him by leaking details of the investigation.
Amid the intensifying criticism, the police strongly protested, saying “The investigation was not unreasonable”. National Police Agency Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun said, “The head of the Incheon National Police Agency will briefly inform you of the case soon”. Denying the blame that the police investigation caused Lee Sun-kyun’s death, he said, “Seems like such a result has something to do with society as a whole”.
Regarding the police’s rejection of Lee Sun-kyun’s request for a private summon, Commissioner Yoon asked back, “If the investigation was conducted privately, would the public accept the result?”.
The Incheon Police Agency, which was in charge of the investigation, also insisted that there was nothing unreasonable in the process. Commissioner Kim Hee-joong stated, “His lawyer participated in all steps of the investigation, including questioning, seizures, and forensics. We conducted in accordance with procedures, such as recording video of the statements”.
Source: Naver
