[4] Lee's increased Korean Wave popularity led to him being cast in as the leading man in the Japanese film Veronika Decides to Die (based on the same-titled novel by Paulo Coelho), which screened at the 2005 Tokyo International Film Festival.

[4] He also played the leading role opposite Ami Suzuki in the 2007 Japanese television drama Magnolia no Hana no Shita de ("Under the Magnolia"), which portrayed a romance between a Korean man and a Japanese woman who meet while studying in New York City.

[5] Afterwards, he returned to Korean television with a supporting role in In-soon Is Pretty, as the protagonist's younger brother.

[10] As his first post-army project, Lee appeared in the 2013 online drama It's Not Over Yet; it aired in 6-part 10-minute installments on social networking sites.

[13] The couple officially tied the knot at a Catholic church with their family and friends in a private wedding on 28 December 2019.