Ambassador Lee had served for almost 40 years as a career diplomat until 23 December 2017 when he officially retired. He had served in many countries such as Japan, India, and New Zealand as Ambassador, China(Beijing) as Consul General. He completed his Bachelor's and Master's in Law from Seoul National University in 1976 and 1978 respectively. He was Chancellor of the IFANS which is a training and research arm of MOFAT. Since his retirement from public service, he has been trying hard to contribute to betterment of Korea’s relationship with friend countries such as India and Japan in various ways. He is a President of the India Forum in Korea and a Vice President of the Korea-Japan Friendship Association. He was elected Chairman of the Korean Council on Foreign Relations in December 2019 and started his term of office in January 2020. He has been serving the Asan Institute for Policy Studies as Chairman of the board since March 2022.