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Inside the Deadly Toll of Celebrity in South Korea

'Parasite' star Lee Sun-kyun’s suicide sparked a national fury about an entertainment culture where the pressure to live up to impossible standards can lead to exile, despair and even death. Has anything changed?

The director was joined by hundreds of film professionals and 29 Korean arts groups in signing his name to a statement that read: “We call for a probe of the investigators to discover the truth [of how Lee’s case was handled]; we request media outlets to delete articles that do not fit their function as journalism; and we urge the authorities to revise the law to protect the human rights of artists.” By the time Lee became internationally recognizable thanks to his starring part in Bong’s Parasite — playing somewhat against type as the haughty tech executive whose luxury home is infiltrated by a family of working-class grifters — he was a household name in Korea, universally beloved for his wholesome image and his famously soothing baritone way of speaking (fans’ affectionate nickname for him was “The Voice”). Hwang Dong-hyuk, the quirky creator of the hit death-game series, which remains Netflix’s most watched title of all time, made the bold choice to resuscitate Choi’s career by casting him to play a key villain character in Squid Game ‘s high-stakes sophomore season.

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