(The first Korean elected to a foreign national-level office, Jay Kim, became a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1992.

)[5] A poll conducted between 10 December 2008 and 19 April 2009 by the Spanish newspaper, 20 minutos (20 minutes) ranked Lee as the world's 51st most beautiful female politician.

[10] On 13 May 2009, Lee told a candidates' meeting that the SH20 Waterview Connection could divert criminals from South Auckland away from the electorate.

[13] During the by-election, allegations were made in May 2009 that Lee's production company Asia Vision had spent New Zealand on Air money making a promotional video for the National Party ahead of the 2008 election.

[16] Later in 2009, Lee used NZ$100,000 of contingency funding to increase the markup for Asia Downunder in violation of her contract with New Zealand on Air, which she described as "an innocent error".

[23] There were several conscience votes during the 50th Parliament surrounding issues of the legal alcohol purchase age and Same-Sex Marriage.

[citation needed] During the 2014 general election, Melissa Lee failed to win the Mt Albert electorate.

[25][26] After the 2014 election, Lee was appointed to chair the Commerce Select Committee while also retaining her position as Parliamentary Private Secretary for Ethnic Communities, the position being renamed to reflect the change in name of the eponymous Ministry and Minister, Lee has been joined by Jacqui Dean as a Parliamentary Private Secretary since the retirement of John Hayes at the 2014 Election.

[27] In 2015, New Zealand First Ron Mark was criticised by members of all parties when he told Lee to go back to Korea in parliament.

[31] Lee stood against Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern in the Mt Albert electorate but was defeated by a margin of 15,264 votes.

[23] In March 2018, Lee challenged the Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran about her undisclosed meeting with Carol Hirschfield, the head of content at Radio New Zealand.

Under New Zealand law, international students under the age of ten are unable to attend schools without the presence of a parent or guardian.

[37] During the 2020 New Zealand general election, Lee contested Mount Albert and came second place behind Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who retained the seat by a final margin of 21,246 votes.

[41][42] Lee contested Mount Albert in the 2023 New Zealand general election and came second place behind Helen White by just 20 votes.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised Lee's response to the media sector's woes, saying that she had "more than enough time" to come up with solutions.

[51] On 19 January 2025, Lee was stripped of her economic development and ethnic communities ministerial portfolios during a cabinet reshuffle, which were assumed by Nicola Willis and Mark Mitchell respectively.