President Joe Biden will visit South Korea and Japan from May 20 to May 24, White House officials told CNN. This will be his first trip to Asia as President.
Biden will hold bilateral meetings with his counterpart in each country, Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The trip is meant "to further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and people," press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "This trip will advance the Biden-Harris Administration's rock-solid commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to U.S. treaty alliances with the Republic of Korea and Japan."
In Tokyo, Biden will also meet leaders of Japan, Australia and India, in a gathering of the Quad partnership.
The four-day trip to Asia comes at a critical moment, as he seeks to keep the US and its allies united against Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid mounting civilian casualties and escalating fighting.
Biden spoke with Yoon, on the phone last month, and discussed, among other things, the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, and other global issues like Covid-19 and climate change.
Biden has had multiple interactions with Kishida this year. They spoke recently during the emergency summits in Brussels, Belgium, in March, convened amid Russia's attacks in Ukraine.
The Asia trip will come days after Biden hosts the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Washington on May 12 and 13. In announcing that summit, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the gathering would "demonstrate the United States' enduring commitment to ASEAN, recognizing its central role in delivering sustainable solutions to the region's most pressing challenges, and commemorate 45 years of US-ASEAN relations."
-CNN