United States presidential visits to East Asia

Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to East Asia. The first presidential trip to a country in East Asia was made by Dwight D. Eisenhower (as president-elect) in 1952. Since then, all presidents, except John F. Kennedy, have traveled to one or more nations in the region while in office.

An orthographic projection map featuring the countries of East Asia (highlighted in dark green)

To date, 25 visits have been made to Japan, 20 to South Korea, 14 to China^[a], and one each to Mongolia and to North Korea.

Table of visit

President	Dates	Countries	Locations	Key details
Dwight D. Eisenhower^[1]	December 2–5, 1952	South Korea	Seoul	Visit to Korean combat zone. (Visit made as President-elect.)
	June 18–19, 1960	Taiwan	Taipei	State visit. Met with President Chiang Kai-shek
	June 19–20, 1960	South Korea	Seoul	Met with Prime Minister Heo Jeong. Addressed the National Assembly.
Lyndon B. Johnson^[2]	October 31 – November 2, 1966	South Korea	Seoul, Suwon	State visit. Met with President Park Chung-hee and Prime Minister Chung Il-kwon. Addressed National Assembly.
Richard Nixon^[3]	February 21–28, 1972	China	Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou	State Visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai.
Gerald Ford	November 19–22, 1974	Japan	Tokyo, Kyoto	State visit. Met with Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
	November 22–23, 1974	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Park Chung-hee.
	December 1–5, 1975	China	Peking	Official visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping
Jimmy Carter^[4]	June 25–29, 1979	Japan	Tokyo, Shimoda	State visit; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira. Attended the 5th G7 summit.
	June 29 – July 1, 1979	South Korea	Seoul	State visit. Met with President Park Chung-hee and Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah.
	July 9–10, 1980	Japan	Tokyo	Official visit; attended memorial services for former Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira; met with Emperor Hirohito, President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of Australia, Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda of Thailand, and Premier Hua Guofeng of China.
Ronald Reagan^[5]	November 9–12, 1983	Japan	Tokyo	State visit; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and addressed the National Diet.
	November 12–14, 1983	South Korea	Seoul, Demilitarized Zone	State visit. Met with President Chun Doo-hwan. Addressed the National Assembly and visited U.S. troops.
	April 26 – May 1, 1984	China	Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai	State visit. Met with President Li Xiannian and Premier Zhao Ziyang.
	May 2–7, 1986	Japan	Tokyo	Attended the 12th G7 summit.
George H. W. Bush^[6]	February 23–25, 1989	Japan	Tokyo	Attended the funeral of Emperor Hirohito. Met with Emperor Akihito, the kings of Belgium, Jordan and Spain, the presidents of Brazil, Egypt, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal and Zaire, and the prime ministers of Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and Turkey.
	February 25–27, 1989	China	Beijing	Met with President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng. Also met with Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
	February 27, 1989	South Korea	Seoul	Official visit. Addressed the National Assembly.
	January 5–7, 1992	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Roh Tae-woo and senior Korean officials. Also signed a science and technology agreement, addressed the National Assembly, and visited U.S. military personnel.
	January 7–10, 1992	Japan	Kyoto, Kashihara, Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and senior Japanese officials.
Bill Clinton^[7]	July 6–10, 1993	Japan	Tokyo	Attended the 19th G7 summit. Met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
	July 10–11, 1993	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Kim Young-sam. Addressed the National Assembly. Visited U.S. military personnel.
	April 15–16, 1996		Cheju Island	Met with President Kim Young-sam. Proposed four-nation peace talks.
	April 16–18, 1996	Japan	Tokyo	State visit. Issued joint statement on U.S.-Japanese security relations. Addressed the Diet and U.S. Navy personnel.
	June 24 – July 3, 1998	China	Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Hong Kong	State visit. Met with President Jiang Zemin. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Delivered a speech at Peking University.
	November 19–20, 1998	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi. Addressed American Chamber of Commerce.
	November 20–22, 1998	South Korea	Seoul, Osan	Met with President Kim Dae-jung. Addressed U.S. military personnel.
	June 8, 2000	Japan	Tokyo	Attended the funeral of former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi.
	July 21–23, 2000		Nago	Attended the 26th G8 summit.
George W. Bush^[8]	October 18–21, 2001	China	Shanghai	Attended the APEC Summit.
	February 16–19, 2002	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Addressed the Diet.
	February 19–21, 2002	South Korea	Seoul, Dorasan, Osan	Met with President Kim Dae-jung. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Addressed U.S. military personnel.
	February 21–22, 2002	China	Beijing	Met with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji.
	October 17–18, 2003	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
	November 15–16, 2005		Kyoto	Met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
	November 16–20, 2005	South Korea	Pusan, Gyeongju, Osan	Attended the APEC Summit. Met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Addressed U.S. military personnel.
	November 20–21, 2005	China	Beijing	Met with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
	November 21, 2005	Mongolia	Ulaanbaatar	Met with President Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
	July 6–9, 2008	Japan	Tōyako	Attended the 34th G8 summit. Met with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
	August 5–6, 2008	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Addressed U.S. military personnel.
	August 7–11, 2008	China	Beijing	Attended the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. Met with President Hu Jintao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Barack Obama^[9]	November 13–14, 2009	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
	November 15–18, 2009	China	Shanghai, Beijing	Met with Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng and Mayor Han Zheng; also took part in a town hall meeting with Shanghai students. Met with President Hu Jintao, NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.
	November 18–19, 2009	South Korea	Seoul, Osan	Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited with U.S. troops at Osan Air Base.
	November 10–12, 2010	South Korea	Seoul	Attended the G-20 Summit. Met with President Lee Myung-bak.
	November 12–14, 2010	Japan	Yokohama, Kamakura	Attended the APEC Summit. Met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
	March 25–27, 2012	South Korea	Seoul	Attended the Nuclear Security Summit. Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
	April 23–25, 2014	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
	April 25–26, 2014	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Park Geun-hye. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison.
	November 10–12, 2014	China	Beijing	Attended the APEC Summit. Met with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang.^[10]
	May 25–27, 2016	Japan	Shima, Hiroshima	Attended the 42nd G7 summit. Visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
	September 3–6, 2016	China	Hangzhou	Attended the G-20 Summit.
Donald Trump	November 5–7, 2017	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
	November 7–8, 2017	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Moon Jae-in. Addressed the National Assembly.
	November 8–10, 2017	China	Beijing	Met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
	May 25–28, 2019	Japan	Tokyo	State visit. Met with Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
	June 27–29, 2019	Japan	Osaka	Attended the G-20 Summit.
	June 29–30, 2019	South Korea	Seoul, Korean Demilitarized Zone	Met with President Moon Jae-in. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Attended the Koreas–United States DMZ Summit with President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Inter-Korean Freedom House on the southern side of the Joint Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Visited U.S. troops at Osan Air Base.
	June 30, 2019	North Korea	Joint Security Area	Briefly walked into the northern side of the Joint Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, accompanied by North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to enter North Korea.
Joe Biden	May 20–22, 2022	South Korea	Seoul	Met with President Yoon Suk-yeol. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison.
	May 22–24, 2022	Japan	Tokyo	Met with Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Attended the QUAD Leaders Summit with Prime Minister Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
	May 18–21, 2023	Japan	Hiroshima	Attended the 49th G7 summit.

Gallery

•  
  President Dwight D. Eisenhower with Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China), June 18, 1960
•  
  President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing, China, February 25, 1972
•  
  President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan with Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo, Japan, November 9, 1983
•  
  President Donald Trump with Chairman Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in in Korean Demilitarized Zone, June 30, 2019

Visits by former presidents

• Ulysses S. Grant visited Hong Kong, Canton (now Guangzhou), Shanghai, and Peking where he spoke with the head of government, Prince Gong, and Li Hongzhang, Viceroy of Zhili, in 1878, during a world tour after leaving office. He subsequently visited Japan, before returning to the U.S.^[11]
• Richard Nixon visited China at the personal invitation of Mao Zedong in February 1976.^[12] He visited again in mid–1979, and had a private meeting with Deng Xiaoping in Beijing.^[13]
• Jimmy Carter travelled to China, along with Carter Center personnel, for meetings with government and other officials on several occasions: July 1997,^[14] September 2003,^[15] December 2007,^[16] and January 2009.^[17] Additionally, Carter has visited North Korea twice: in June 1994 he meet with Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang to persuade Kim to negotiate with the Clinton Administration over its nuclear program;^[18] and, in August 2010 he met with Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang to secure the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an American teacher who was imprisoned in North Korea for entering that country without a travel visa. Carter returned to the United States with Gomes.^[19]
• Bill Clinton travelled to North Korea in August 2009 to secure the release of two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were imprisoned for illegally entering North Korea. He met with Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, and returned to the United States with the journalists.^[20]

See also

• Foreign policy of the United States
• United States–South Korea free trade agreement
• Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan
• One-China policy

Notes

1. This is when the United States government recognized the Republic of China as the only legal regime of "China" as president Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Taiwan in 1960. However, Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China on mainland China in 1972 and Gerald Ford in 1975 while maintaining relations with the ROC. 11 other visits to mainland China continued on from 1979 onwards following recognition of the PRC.

References

1. Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian 2011-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
2. Travels of President Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian
3. "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
4. "Travels of President Jimmy Carter". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
5. "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
6. "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
7. "Travels of President William J. Clinton". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
8. "Travels of President George W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
9. "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
10. . White House Office. November 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
11. Brands, H. W. (2012). The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace. Doubleday. pp. 591–592. ISBN 978-0385532419.
12. Black, Conrad (2007). Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full. New York: Public Affairs Books. p. 1005. ISBN 978-1-58648-519-1.
13. Ambrose, Stephen E. (1991). Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973–1990. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 524–525. ISBN 978-0-671-69188-2.
14. "Visit to China". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
15. "President Carter's Japan and China Trip Report". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
16. "Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to China, Dec. 2-8, 2007". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
17. "China Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter: Jan. 10-16, 2009". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
18. Blakemore, Erin (September 1, 2018). "Bill Clinton Once Struck a Nuclear Deal With North Korea". history.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
19. McCurry, Justin (August 27, 2010). "North Korea releases US prisoner after talks with Jimmy Carter". The Guardian. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
20. "The story behind Clinton's trip to North Korea". CNN. August 5, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2019.