He formerly held the Asian home run record of 56 homers in a season, established in 2003 while playing for Samsung in the KBO.

(The record was broken by Wladimir Balentien of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, on September 15, 2013, when he hit his 56th and 57th Home Runs of the season against the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball League.)

Lee holds the KBO records for career runs scored, RBI, total bases, and slugging percentage.

On 1 August 2006, Lee became only the third professional baseball player to hit 400 career home runs before the age of 30 (others include Sadaharu Oh and Alex Rodriguez).

The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo had reported on July 19 that the Yankees had expressed interest in the slugger.

[4] After the conclusion of the 2006 season, Lee re-signed with the Yomiuri Giants, citing that he wishes to win a Japan Series with the team.

After being released by the Giants at the end of the 2010 season, Lee joined the Orix Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League in December 2010.

[6] Lee played for the South Korean national team in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.