Seoul, Jan. 27 -- Vietnam has emerged as the Republic of Korea's (RoK) key export market in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as the East Asian country seeks to diversify trade and reduce its reliance on the US and China amid global volatility.

The RoK's exports to Vietnam rose 7.6% in 2025 from a year earlier to 62.8 billion USD, while imports from Vietnam climbed 11.7% to 31.8 billion USD, according to data released by the RoK's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

That lifted two-way trade to 94.5 billion USD, up 9% from 86.8 billion USD. The total equals about 35% of the RoK's trade with top partner China (272.7 billion USD) and 48% of that with the US (196.2 ...