List of 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.

To date, 26 visits have been made to Japan, 21 to South Korea, 15 to China, and one each to Mongolia and to North Korea.

Table of visit President Dates Countries Locations Key detailsDwight D. EisenhowerTravels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian SeoulVisit to Korean combat zone. (Visit made as President-elect.)TaipeiState visit. Met with President Chiang Kai-shek SeoulMet with Prime Minister Heo Jeong. Addressed the National Assembly.Lyndon B. JohnsonTravels of President Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian WebCitation archiveSeoul,SuwonState visit. Met with President Park Chung-hee and Prime Minister Chung Il-kwon. Addressed National Assembly.Richard Nixon Shanghai,Beijing,Hangzhou State Visit. Met with CCP chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai.Gerald Ford Tokyo,Kyoto State visit. Met with Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. SeoulMet with President Park Chung-hee.BeijingOfficial visit. Met with CCP chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Premier Deng XiaopingJimmy CarterTokyo,Shimoda State visit; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira. Attended the 5th G7 summit.SeoulState visit. Met with President Park Chung-hee and Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah. TokyoOfficial 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 ReaganTokyoState visit; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and addressed the National Diet.Seoul,Demilitarized Zone State visit. Met with President Chun Doo-hwan. Addressed the National Assembly and visited U.S. troops. Beijing,Xi'an,Shanghai State visit. Met with CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang, President Li Xiannian and Premier Zhao Ziyang.TokyoAttended the 12th G7 summit.George H. W. BushTokyoAttended 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.BeijingMet with CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang, President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng. Also met with Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.SeoulOfficial visit. Addressed the National Assembly.SeoulMet 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.Kyoto,Kashihara,TokyoMet with Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and senior Japanese officials.Bill ClintonTokyoAttended the 19th G7 summit. Met with Russian president Boris Yeltsin.SeoulMet with President Kim Young-sam. Addressed the National Assembly. Visited U.S. military personnel.Cheju IslandMet with President Kim Young-sam. Proposed four-nation peace talks. TokyoState visit. Issued joint statement on U.S.-Japanese security relations. Addressed the Diet and U.S. Navy personnel.Xi'an,Beijing,Shanghai,Guilin,Hong KongState visit. Met with President & CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Delivered a speech at Peking University.TokyoMet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi. Addressed American Chamber of Commerce.Seoul,OsanMet with President Kim Dae-jung. Addressed U.S. military personnel. TokyoAttended the funeral of former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi.NagoAttended the 26th G8 summit.George W. Bush ShanghaiAttended the APEC Summit.TokyoMet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Addressed the Diet.Seoul,Dorasan,Osan Met with President Kim Dae-jung. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Addressed U.S. military personnel.BeijingMet with President & CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji.TokyoMet with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.KyotoMet with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Pusan,Gyeongju,OsanAttended the APEC Summit. Met with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Addressed U.S. military personnel.BeijingMet with President & CCP general secretary Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.UlaanbaatarMet with President Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. Tōyako Attended the 34th G8 summit. Met with Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese leader Hu Jintao and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak.SeoulMet with President Lee Myung-bak. Addressed U.S. military personnel.BeijingAttended the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. Met with President & CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.Barack ObamaTokyoMet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.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 & CCP general secretary Hu Jintao, NPC chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.Seoul, OsanMet with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited with U.S. troops at Osan Air Base.SeoulAttended the G-20 Summit. Met with President Lee Myung-bak.Yokohama, KamakuraAttended the APEC Summit. Met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan.SeoulAttended the Nuclear Security Summit. Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone.TokyoMet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.SeoulMet with President Park Geun-hye. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison.BeijingAttended the APEC Summit. Met with President & CCP General Secretary]] Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang.Shima,HiroshimaAttended the 42nd G7 summit. Visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.HangzhouAttended the G-20 Summit.Donald TrumpTokyoMet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.SeoulState visit. Met with President Moon Jae-in. Addressed the National Assembly. BeijingState visit. Met with President & CCP general secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Tokyo,YokosukaState visit. Met with Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.OsakaAttended the G-20 Summit.Seoul,Korean Demilitarized ZoneMet 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.Joint Security AreaBriefly 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 BidenSeoulMet with President Yoon Suk-yeol. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison.TokyoMet 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.HiroshimaAttended the 49th G7 summit.Donald TrumpTokyo,YokosukaMet with Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.Busan,Gyeongju Met with President Lee Jae Myung in Busan. Attended the APEC Summit. Attended the summit meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.BeijingState visit. Met with President & CCP general secretary Xi Jinping.

Gallery

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. Richard Nixon visited China at the personal invitation of Mao Zedong in February 1976. He visited again in mid–1979, and had a private meeting with Deng Xiaoping in Beijing. Jimmy Carter travelled to China, along with Carter Center personnel, for meetings with government and other officials on several occasions: July 1997, September 2003, December 2007, and January 2009. Additionally, Carter has visited North Korea twice: in June 1994 he meet with General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang to persuade Kim to negotiate with the Clinton Administration over its nuclear program; and, in August 2010 he met with General Secretary 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. 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.

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

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