Melissa Lee

Melissa Ji-Yun Lee (Korean: 이지연; born 1966) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected to the House of Representatives as a list MP for the National Party in the 2008 election. She served as the 11th Minister for Economic Development and 2nd Minister for Ethnic Communities from November 2023 to January 2025. She also served as the 28th Minister for Media and Communications from November 2023 to April 2024.

Lee was born in South Korea and grew up in Malaysia before moving to Australia and then to New Zealand in 1988 with her family. She has a MA Hons (First Class) in Communication Studies. Based in Auckland, she spent twenty three years in journalism, including a five-year stint at the Sunday News and writing for numerous publications including The New Zealand Herald and The Listener. She was also the producer of the TV magazine series Asia Downunder.

In November 2008, Lee became a List MP in the New Zealand Parliament. Her maiden speech included sections in English, Māori, and Korean. In English, she mentioned crime, education, and anti-Asian racism issues in New Zealand. In the Māori section, she mentioned the history of Māori first coming to New Zealand by canoe from Hawaiki and compared it to her own migration to New Zealand by aeroplane. Near the end of her speech, she thanked, in Korean, all the people that had given her support "simply by virtue of [their] shared heritage".

Lee became the second Korean, and first Korean woman, to win the election to a non-Korean national legislature. (The first Korean elected to a foreign national-level office, Jay Kim, became a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1992.)

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.

During the first months of entering Parliament two Conscience votes were taken, Melissa Lee voted against the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill^{[citation needed]} and the Liquor Advertising (Television and Radio) Bill.

On 16 April 2009, Lee announced her candidacy for the National Party nomination in the 2009 Mount Albert by-election. She defeated the previous local National candidate, Ravi Musuku, to win selection for the National Party on 4 May 2009.

On 13 May 2009, Lee told a candidates' meeting that the SH20 Waterview Connection could divert criminals from South Auckland away from the electorate. Lee apologised the next day, saying "if South Auckland people (find) my comments offensive, I apologise. It wasn't about them. It was about criminals." Prime Minister John Key later said the remark was a "stupid statement to make". Later that day she apologised again saying, "I apologise unreservedly for the comments I made regarding South Auckland... I sincerely regret my remarks." In the by-election, Lee attracted only 3,542 votes, coming a distant second to Labour's David Shearer's 13,260 votes.