Riot Games Korea chief passes away

Park Jun-kyu, country head of Riot Games Korea, passed away Thursday. He was 44.

Riot Games Korea said that Park was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2019 and that his condition drastically worsened early this month.

Due to his characteristic hardworking nature, Park refused to take leave or make his illness publicly known up until the day of his death, a Riot Games Korea official said. 

The industry responded in shock to the news of his passing. Park’s last public appearance had only been a month ago on Dec. 10, when he attended a National Assembly debate to discuss ways to foster a healthy and just working environment for esports players in Korea.

Park joined Riot Games, publisher of the popular game League of Legends, in 2014. He led the business strategy and game publishing divisions before becoming the head of the Korea office in January 2019.

Prior to Riot Games, Park worked at KPMG Advisory and CJ E&M’s global business division.

He had a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Dartmouth College.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)