Police in the city of Incheon confirmed that Lee had been questioned three times since October as part of an investigation into alleged drug use.

Lee had been summoned by police most recently on December 23 and held for 19 hours before he was released the following day.

Throughout the investigation, Lee’s drug tests had all come back negative, Incheon police said, without specifying how many tests he had taken.

Members of the Korea Crime Scene Investigation team investigate the scene where South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found unconscious in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. Lee of the Oscar-winning movie "Parasite" has been found unconscious, South Korean police said Wednesday. Police officers discovered an unconscious Lee at a Seoul park on Wednesday but gave no further details, police said.

Members of the Korea Crime Scene Investigation investigate the car in which Lee was found unconscious in Seoul, December 27, 2023.

Lee had claimed he was tricked into using drugs and subsequently blackmailed by the same individual, police said. Lee filed a lawsuit against the alleged blackmailer, according to police, who added they had received a tip about his alleged drug use before he filed suit.

One man and one woman have been arrested in relation to the drug investigation, police said. On December 26, he had requested police through his lawyers to conduct a polygraph examination of himself and two other people police apprehended.

The police also offered their condolences to the actor’s bereaved family, saying they had tried to prevent media leaks about his drug investigation before its completion – in accordance with South Korean law, which prohibits those involved in a criminal investigation from releasing facts about the suspect before a public indictment is released.

Police in Seoul said Lee’s family did not want an autopsy to be conducted.