United States presidential visits to East Asia - wikipedia United States presidential visits to East Asia An orthographic projection map featuring the countries of East Asia ( highlighted in dark green ) 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 travelled to one or more nations in the region while in office. To date, twenty - one visits have been made to Japan, nineteen to South Korea, twelve to China, and one to both Mongolia and Taiwan. No incumbent president has yet visited North Korea ( which does not have diplomatic relations with the U.S. ). Contents 1 Table of visits 1.1 Visits by former presidents 2 See also 3 References Table of visits 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 Dates Country Locations Highlights Dwight D. Eisenhower 01 ! December 2 -- 5, 1952 South Korea Seoul Visit to Korean combat zone. ( Visit made as President - elect. ) 02 ! June 18 -- 19, 1960 Taiwan Taipei State visit. Met with President Chiang Kai - shek 03 ! June 19 -- 20, 1960 South Korea Seoul Met with Prime Minister Heo Jeong. Addressed the National Assembly. Lyndon B. Johnson 04 ! October 31 -- November 2, 1966 Seoul, Suwon State visit. Met with President Park Chung - hee and Prime Minister Chung Il - kwon. Addressed National Assembly. Richard Nixon 05 ! February 21 -- 28, 1972 China Shanghai, Peking, Hangchow State Visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. Gerald Ford 06 ! November 19 -- 22, 1974 Japan Tokyo, Kyoto State visit. Met with Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. 07 ! November 22 -- 23, 1974 South Korea Seoul Met with President Park Chung - hee. 08 ! December 1 -- 5, 1975 China Peking Official visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping Jimmy Carter 09 ! June 25 -- 29, 1979 Japan Tokyo, Shimoda State visit ; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira. Attended the 5th G7 summit. 10 ! June 29 -- July 1, 1979 South Korea Seoul State visit. Met with President Park Chung - hee and Prime Minister Choi Kyu - hah. 11 ! 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 12 ! November 9 -- 12, 1983 State visit ; met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and addressed the National Diet. 13 ! 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. 14 ! April 26 -- May 1, 1984 China Beijing, Xian, Shanghai State visit. Met with President Li Xiannian and Premier Zhao Ziyang. 15 ! May 2 -- 7, 1986 Japan Tokyo Attended the 12th G7 summit. George H.W. Bush 16 ! February 23 -- 25, 1989 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. 17 ! February 25 -- 27, 1989 China Beijing Met with President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng. Also met with Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. 18 ! February 27, 1989 South Korea Seoul Official visit. Addressed the National Assembly. 19 ! January 5 -- 7, 1992 Met with President Roh Tae - woo and senior Korean officials. Also signed a science and technology agreement, addressed the Korean National Assembly, and visited U.S. military personnel. 20 ! January 7 -- 10, 1992 Japan Kyoto, Kashihara, Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and senior Japanese officials. Bill Clinton 21 ! July 6 -- 10, 1993 Tokyo Attended the 19th G7 summit. Met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. 22 ! July 10 -- 11, 1993 South Korea Seoul Met with President Kim Young - sam. Addressed the South Korean National Assembly. Visited U.S. military personnel. 23 ! April 15 -- 16, 1996 Cheju Island Met with President Kim Young - sam. Proposed four - nation peace talks. 24 ! 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. 25 ! 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. 26 ! November 19 -- 20, 1998 Japan Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi. Addressed American Chamber of Commerce. 27 ! November 20 -- 22, 1998 South Korea Seoul, Osan Met with President Kim Dae - jung. Addressed U.S. military personnel. 28 ! June 8, 2000 Japan Tokyo Attended the funeral of former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi. 29 ! July 21 -- 23, 2000 Nago Attended the 26th G8 summit. George W. Bush 30 ! October 18 -- 21, 2001 China Shanghai Attended the APEC Summit. 31 ! February 16 -- 19, 2002 Japan Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Addressed the Diet. 32 ! 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. 33 ! February 21 -- 22, 2002 China Beijing Met with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji. 34 ! October 17 -- 18, 2003 Japan Tokyo Met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. 35 ! November 15 -- 16, 2005 Kyoto Met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 36 ! November 16 -- 20, 2005 South Korea Pusan, Gyeongju, Osan Attended the APEC Summit. Met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Addressed U.S. military personnel. 37 ! November 20 -- 21, 2005 China Beijing Met with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. 38 ! November 21, 2005 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Met with President Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. 39 ! 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. 40 ! August 5 -- 6, 2008 South Korea Seoul Met with President Lee Myung - bak. Addressed U.S. military personnel. 41 ! 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 42 ! November 13 -- 14, 2009 Japan Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. 43 ! 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. 44 ! November 18 -- 19, 2009 South Korea Seoul, Osan Met with President Lee Myung - bak. Visited with U.S. troops at Osan Air Base. 45 ! November 10 -- 12, 2010 Seoul Attended the G - 20 Summit. Met with President Lee Myung - bak. 46 ! November 12 -- 14, 2010 Japan Yokohama, Kamakura Attended the APEC Summit. Met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan. 47 ! March 25 -- 27, 2012 South Korea Seoul Attended the Nuclear Security Summit. Met with President Lee Myung - bak. Visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone. 48 ! April 23 -- 25, 2014 Japan Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. 49 ! April 25 -- 26, 2014 South Korea Seoul Met with President Park Geun - hye. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison. 50 ! November 10 -- 12, 2014 China Beijing Attended the APEC Summit. Met with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang. 51 ! May 25 -- 27, 2016 Japan Shima, Hiroshima Attended the 42nd G7 summit. Visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. 52 ! September 3 -- 6, 2016 China Hangzhou Attended the G - 20 Summit. Donald Trump 53 ! November 5 -- 7, 2017 Japan Tokyo Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. 54 ! November 7 -- 8, 2017 South Korea Seoul Met with President Moon Jae - in. Addressed the South Korean National Assembly. 55 ! November 8 -- 10, 2017 China Beijing Met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. 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 the presidency. 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. Bill Clinton ( who had considered visiting North Korea in 2000 near the end of his presidency ) travelled to Pyongyang, North Korea in August 2009 to secure the release of two American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling who were imprisoned after crossing into North Korea through China without a Visa. Lee and Ling were released while he was there. 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 References Jump up ^ `` U.S. Relations With North Korea ''. Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs ( U.S Department of State ). Jump up ^ Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011 - 12 - 04 at WebCite Jump up ^ Travels of President Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian WebCitation archive Jump up ^ `` Travels of President Richard M. Nixon ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President Jimmy Carter ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President Ronald Reagan ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President George H.W. Bush ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President William J. Clinton ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President George W. Bush ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` Travels of President Barack Obama ''. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Jump up ^ `` The President 's Trip to China, Burma and Australia ''. White House Office. November 2014. Archived from the original on 2015 - 11 - 08. Jump up ^ Brands, H.W. ( 2012 ). The Man Who Saved the Union : Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace. Doubleday. pp. 591 -- 592. ISBN 978 - 0385532419. Jump up ^ Black, Conrad ( 2007 ). Richard M. Nixon : A Life in Full. New York : Public Affairs Books. p. 1005. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58648 - 519 - 1. Jump up ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. ( 1991 ). Nixon : Ruin and Recovery 1973 -- 1990. New York : Simon & Schuster. pp. 524 -- 525. ISBN 978 - 0 - 671 - 69188 - 2. Jump up ^ `` Visit to China ''. cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia : The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016. Jump up ^ `` President Carter 's Japan and China Trip Report ''. cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia : The Carter Center. Retrieved February 18, 2016. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/04/nkorea.clinton/index.html International trips made by the President of the United States By place Africa North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Americas Canada Caribbean Central America Mexico South America Eurasia East Asia Eastern Europe & Northern Asia Middle East Northern Europe South Asia Southeast Asia Southern Europe United Kingdom and Ireland Western Europe Oceania Australia and New Zealand By president Wilson Hoover F.D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Eisenhower Kennedy L.B. Johnson Nixon Ford Carter Reagan G.H.W. Bush Clinton G.W. Bush Obama Trump Foreign relations of the United States Bilateral relations Africa East Burundi Comoros Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Rwanda Seychelles Somalia South Sudan Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Middle Angola Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Gabon São Tomé and Príncipe North Algeria Egypt Libya Morocco Sudan Tunisia Southern Botswana Lesotho Namibia South Africa Swaziland West Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Ivory Coast The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea - Bissau Liberia Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Americas Caribbean Aruba Barbados Cayman Islands Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago Central Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama Northern Bermuda Canada trade relations Mexico South Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Asia Central Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan East China Hong Kong Japan Macau Mongolia North Korea South Korea Taiwan South Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan ( military relations ) Sri Lanka Southeast Brunei Burma Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam West Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Cyprus Georgia Iran Iraq Israel military relations Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen Europe East Belarus Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Moldova Poland Romania Russia Slovakia Ukraine North Denmark Estonia Finland Iceland Ireland Latvia Lithuania Norway Sweden United Kingdom South Andorra Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Greece Italy Kosovo Macedonia Malta Montenegro Portugal San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Vatican City West Austria Belgium France Germany Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Switzerland Oceania Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Former states Kingdom of Hawaii Republic of Texas Russian Empire Soviet Union Multilateral relations Arab League Commonwealth of Nations European Union Latin America United Nations Third Border Initiative International organizations Doctrines, policies, concepts Presidential doctrines Proclamation of Neutrality Monroe Roosevelt Corollary Good Neighbor policy Truman Eisenhower Kennedy Johnson Nixon Carter Reagan Clinton Bush Obama Other doctrines Lodge Corollary Stimson Kirkpatrick Weinberger Powell Rumsfeld Wolfowitz Policies and concepts Blowback Containment Domino theory Non-interventionism Progressive realism Rollback Special Relationship Taiwan Relations Act Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_presidential_visits_to_East_Asia&oldid=813621152 '' Categories : Lists relating to the United States presidency United States presidential visits United States history - related lists Diplomacy - related lists Diplomatic visits by heads of government Diplomatic visits by heads of state China -- United States relations Japan -- United States relations Mongolia -- United States relations South Korea -- United States relations Taiwan -- United States relations North Korea -- United States relations Hidden categories : Webarchive template webcite links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 4 December 2017, at 11 : 04. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who was the first us president to visit south korea
Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower