Vietnam is expected to surpass Japan to become the third largest trade partner of South Korea, just behind China and the U.S., according to the newswire world.kbs.co.kr.

It quoted the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI)'s analysis of investment and trade changes between the two nations during the 1992-2021 period as saying that South Korea trade surplus with Vietnam grew steadily from $300 million in 1992 to an estimated $31.3 billion in 2022, making Vietnam almost certainly exceed the US to become the top surplus partner.

As of November, two-way trade between Vietnam and South Korea hit $81.1 billion.

The figure in 1992 reached $500 million and saw a 161-fold rise to $80.7 billion in 2021. During the period, South Korea's exports and imports soared by 8.4 and 7.5 times respectively, but its exports and imports with Vietnam surged by 142 times and 240 times.

Data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showed that as of 2021, South Korea was the biggest investor in Vietnam with 9,203 projects worth $78.5 billion. Its FDI in Vietnam spiked from $17 million in 1992 to $2.4 billion in 2021.

FKI advised the South Korea Government to enhance partnerships with Vietnam as the two governments recently upgraded the bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two countries'businesses also targeted lifting two-way trade to $150 billion by 2030, doubling the current figure.