On the 9th (KST), Riot Games Korea announced that Park Jun-kyu, the head of Riot Games in the Korean branch, had passed away. The cause of his death was revealed due to liver cancer.
He fought liver cancer last year, but continued to carry out his responsibilities with Korean Riot Games until the end of 2019. Riot announced that Park passed away due to health problems, and nothing else related to his position was announced.
Joining Riot Korea since 2014, Park Jun-kyu has shown a strong influence in the global marketing department and then the game operation team. By 2015, he was officially appointed CEO of Riot Korea.
Ever since Park Ju-kyu became the CEO, the LCK has taken a leap forward and has been the No. 1 area of League of Legends for many years. In 2019, he also oversees the progress of the titles Riot is developing and LoL esports activities.
The following are comments from the Reddit community after his passed away
I knew the Riot KR CEO as Jaysen and he was a super friendly, approachable guy who was very interested in working with the global casters to find ways to make the LCK broadcast better for the English fans.
Had no idea about his medical struggle and thus today comes out of nowhere. Rest in Peace and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Jaysen was a great man. Leading Riot efforts in Korea with high integrity and passion. It has been an honor working with him. Our prayers go to his family. Rest In Peace.
It’s weird how frequently liver cancer hits Koreans and a lot of other Asian cultures. Almost 3x as much as any other race. Read a few studies on it, what a shame. R.I.P. man.
I noticed that ever since he became CEO of the LCK, they were broadening their reach across the world. It’s sad to lose someone as ambitious as him, especially when its to a disease I’ve lost many loved ones to. RIP to him with condolences to friends and family.
This is horrible for him and his family especially given how young he looked and it came absolutely out of nowhere.
The riot KR team has been criticised a lot though recently with some issues with player contracts and the whole cvmax thing. It will be interesting to see if riot KR will handle cases differently in the future which many hoped for. Unfortunately they will get a new CEO in such a horrible way instead. It is a clean slate though never the less hopefully
🙁 Liver cancer is a silent monster. You could feel fine for years, suddenly you’re having shoulder pain and feeling bloated and bam there you have 11 tumor nodules of various sizes on both of your liver and you are given an expiry date of 6mths.
Condolences to Park Jun-kyu’s family! Thank you for your great contributions to the LCK and League of Legends in the world.