On November 18, 2005, Lee died by suicide at the age of 26 in her New York City apartment.

[2] She was a first year graduate student in arts management at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

[1] Her cause of death was originally reported in both American and South Korean media as a car crash due to the social stigma against suicide, but the actual details were subsequently published after inquiries by reporters from The Korea Times.

[1] At the time of her death, Lee was a graduate student at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and her father was in the United States undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

She also launched a personal blog to show her daily life to the public and it became very popular in South Korea.