South Korea’s second-quarter current-account surplus exceeds Germany and Japan’s combined

South Korea recorded a $116.63 billion current-account surplus in April–June, ranking second among major economies with reported figures and exceeding Germany and Japan’s combined total, Yonhap reported from Seoul on October 25. The comparison shows how sharply South Korea’s external balance strengthened as semiconductor exports surged.

How South Korea compared with China, Germany and Japan

China ranked first with a $193.72 billion surplus, according to International Monetary Fund figures available through the Bank of Korea’s Economic Statistics System, Yonhap reported. Germany recorded $52.28 billion and Japan $50.62 billion. Their combined $102.9 billion was $13.73 billion below South Korea’s total. BigGo said the ranking covered 36 major countries with confirmed second-quarter figures.

Semiconductor exports drove the increase

Yonhap attributed much of the rise to semiconductor exports amid higher chip prices and strong global demand. It cited Ministry of Data and Statistics figures showing chip exports of $113.89 billion in the second quarter, up 181.6% from a year earlier. Those are export figures; the current-account surplus measures the broader external balance.

BigGo reported that South Korea’s surplus for the first six months of the year totaled $191.01 billion, compared with China’s $378.03 billion. That first-half comparison covers a longer period than the April–June ranking. BigGo also calculated that South Korea’s second-quarter surplus equaled 60.2% of China’s, up from 22.7% a year earlier.

The pattern continued into the next two months in BigGo’s figures: South Korea recorded an $88.19 billion surplus across July and August, $7.37 billion more than Germany and Japan combined over that period. These later figures give context to the second-quarter result, which remains the basis for the newly reported ranking.