In the other direction, the country’s imports from Viet Nam also rose 11.7% to 31.8 billion USD.
As a result, total bilateral trade increased from 86.8 billion USD to 94.5 billion USD, equivalent to 9% growth. This scale is currently about 35% of the 272.7 billion USD trade volume with the top partner, China, and 48% of the 196.2 billion USD with the US.
In terms of export growth, Viet Nam ranked second with 7.6%, behind only Taiwan (China), a market boosted by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
Notably, the Republic of Korea (RoK) recorded a 31 billion USD trade surplus with Viet Nam, up 1.1 billion USD from 29.9 billion USD in 2024. This made Viet Nam the RoK’s second-largest source of trade surplus, after the US (495 billion USD).
Previously, in 2022, Viet Nam topped the list of countries generating the Republic of Korea’s largest trade surplus and has held second place for the past three years. The key driver of this growth has been a rebound in semiconductors. Fueled by the AI wave and global data centres, semiconductors — one of the RoK’s leading export items — set a historical record with revenue of 173.4 billion USD.
In the Viet Nam market, semiconductors were also the top export item, reaching 24.7 billion USD in 2025, up 36.7% year on year.
Since diplomatic ties were established in 1992, bilateral trade has jumped 190 times, from 500 million USD at the outset.
In particular, since the Viet Nam–Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) was signed in 2014, trade has tripled, lifting Viet Nam from the RoK’s eighth partner to third today.
Conversely, the RoK also plays a key role in Viet Nam’s economy. Analysis of data from the Viet Nam Customs shows that in the first 11 months of 2025, the RoK was Viet Nam’s second-largest import market and fourth-largest export market.
A MOTIE representative said that amid volatility in international trade, Viet Nam is a key market within ASEAN for the Republic of Korea to diversify export destinations and reduce reliance on the US and China.
The Korean Government pledged to continue supporting efforts to expand bilateral trade on a mutually beneficial basis — not only in semiconductors, but also in popular consumer goods.
