Actor Kim Joo-hyuk Dies in Car Accident

Kim Joo-hyuk's mangled SUV in Seoul on Monday /Yonhap

Actor Kim Joo-hyuk died in a car accident on Monday. He was 45.

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According to police, Kim's Mercedez Benz SUV collided twice with a sedan before careening on the sidewalk on a busy boulevard near COEX in southern Seoul. The SUV then crashed into the side of an apartment complex about 150 m away.

It took rescue workers about 40 minutes to pull Kim out of the wreckage. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but pronounced dead at around 6:30 p.m.

The 48-year-old driver of the sedan told police he pulled over to the side of the road after the collision, and Kim suddenly grabbed his chest and drove straight into the sidewalk. The driver of the sedan suffered only minor injuries.

A black box image taken by a passing car shows Kim's SUV colliding front-on and then suddenly careening into the sidewalk as both vehicles were pulling over.   

A doctor from Kunkuk University Hospital told police that Kim seems to have had a heart attack which led to the accident. An autopsy is underway.

Kim started acting while at Dongguk University and debuted on SBS in 1998. He appeared in numerous TV dramas and movies over the last 20 years. In a recent interview he credited his late father, who was also a famous actor, with inspiring him.

Fans were distraught at the news and his social media account was swamped with over 100,000 messages, as was the account of his girlfriend, actress Lee Yoo-young.