Min Jung "MJ" Lee (born March 5,[1] 1987) is a South Korean-born American political correspondent for CNN and is currently a White House correspondent for the network.
MJ Lee | |
---|---|
Born | Lee Min-jung March 5, 1987 Seoul, South Korea |
Other names | Min Jung Lee |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | Georgetown University |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, political correspondent |
Years active | 2009 – present |
Employer(s) | CNN (2014–present) Politico (2009–2014) |
Known for | CNN White House Correspondent |
Spouse | Alex Burns |
Children | 1 |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 이민정 |
Hanja | 李珉廷 |
Revised Romanization | I Min-jeong |
McCune–Reischauer | I Minjŏng |
She has previously worked for Politico.
Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Hong Kong, where she and her brother attended Hong Kong International School (an American-system style school). In her junior year of high school, she moved to the United States to attend a boarding school and has never returned to South Korea since.[2] In 2009, she graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in government and Chinese.[3] During college, she interned for The Washington Post and South China Morning Post.[4] Lee was offered an entry level journalism position, but was then rejected due to being on a visa.[2]
Months after graduation, Lee began working at Politico as a web producer.[1] By 2012, she was a finance reporter after a year on the breaking news desk. In 2014, she started working at CNN.[5] Since working at CNN, she has covered the 2016 United States presidential election (both Trump and Clinton campaigns);[6] as well as how the Me Too movement has affected Capitol Hill, covering the allegations against ousted U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN), former White House aide and Staff Secretary Rob Porter, and former U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold (R-TX) (all of whom resigned from their positions as a result of abuse or sexual misconduct allegations).[7] She has also covered the Republicans' contemporary attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.[8][9] Lee covered the 2020 Democratic presidential primary with a focus on the Elizabeth Warren campaign, and the 2020 United States presidential election with a focus on the Joe Biden campaign.
In January 2021, Lee was promoted to White House correspondent under the Biden administration.[10]
At APEC United States 2023, she asked US president Biden if he considered Chinese president Xi a dictator. Biden replied yes.[11]
Lee became an American citizen on September 17, 2016, on Ellis Island, coinciding with her coverage of the 2016 US presidential election campaign.[2] She is married to fellow journalist Alex Burns.[3] In February 2021, she gave birth to their first child.