RESULTS OF 1ST AUTOPSY OF WITNESS

[Anchor Lead]

A preliminary autopsy revealed that Mr. Lee, a civic activist who first alleged that someone else had paid for Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s lawsuit in 2018, likely died from an aortic rupture caused by heart disease. He was shown holding a plastic bag with medicine in the surveillance camera footage containing his last moments.

[Pkg]

Paramedics and police are gathered in front of a motel room. At around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday local time, Mr. Lee in his 50s was found dead here. He raised allegations that someone else had paid for Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s legal defense in 2018. Police announced the findings of a preliminary autopsy performed at the National Forensic Service. The cause of Mr. Lee's death is believed to be aortic dissection and rupture. Aortic rupture can happen to someone suffering from chronic cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension or arteriosclerosis. Police claimed that Mr. Lee suffered from serious coronary arteriosclerosis and heart hypertrophy, in which his heart was nearly double the normal size. A friend of Mr. Lee said they talked on the phone five days before he was found dead.

[Soundbite] Friend of Mr. Lee(VOICE MODIFIED) : "He often said that he had a bad heart and a bad liver. He even told me to find him if I can’t reach him for more than 3 days and gave me the name of the motel and his room number twice."

This security camera footage shows how he had difficulty moving about. On the night of January 7th, he is shown staggering up the stairs before resting for about ten seconds. He then held onto the rail and the wall to slowly walk up the steps. The last time he was caught on camera was in the morning of the following day. He is shown holding a bag of medicine. Nobody was seen entering the motel until he was found dead. The police said that no traumatic injuries were spotted on his body and a few days had likely passed before he was discovered. Authorities plan to conduct tests on his blood, tissues, and drug intake to finalize the cause of death.