A South Korea Vietnam energy deal in 2026 hides inside 85 signed documents
On 22 and 23 April 2026, President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea visited Hanoi, Vietnam, and the 2 countries signed 85 documents together. Most coverage of this South Korea Vietnam energy deal repeats a headline count of 73 agreements. Only 3 of the 85 touch clean energy, 2 government memoranda about the same nuclear power plant, and 1 wind power agreement among the 73 with no capacity or location given anywhere.
The 73 are non binding business agreements between South Korean and Vietnamese companies, signed 23 April 2026 with no dollar values stated, covering technology, defense, rail and banking, none of it clean energy except a wind power project cooperation agreement signed by Kepco Engineering and Construction, an engineering subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp.
A separate 12 documents, called memoranda, were signed 22 April 2026 between Lee and To Lam, the leader of Vietnam. A memorandum is a written statement that 2 sides intend to work together, not a signed contract, so it commits neither government to spend money or build anything yet.
The 3 clean energy documents are 2 government memoranda about the same nuclear power plant and 1 wind power agreement among the 73 business deals with no capacity or location given anywhere.
Show the numbers
| Business deals signed 23 April 2026 | 73 |
| Government memoranda signed 22 April 2026 | 12 |
| Documents that concern clean energy | 3 |
The 2 memoranda that make up the real South Korea Vietnam energy deal
Korea Electric Power Corp, known as KEPCO, and Vietnam National Industry Energy Group signed the first of the 2 energy memoranda, an agreement to study construction of the Ninh Thuan No. 2 nuclear power plant. The memorandum states its own purpose as exploring measures for new nuclear power plant construction, jointly analyzing risks in plant construction and supporting plans to optimize the construction period.
A second memorandum adds the Export Import Bank of Korea and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, 4 parties in total, to explore financing for the same nuclear project.
We agreed to strengthen strategic cooperation in the fields of energy and infrastructure based on the firm mutual trust between our two countries.
Lee Jae Myung, President of South Korea, quoted in source 4. Source 4.
Why Vietnam wants a nuclear plant, and what Korea gets from it
Vietnam wants the plant generating 2 to 3.2 gigawatts of electricity by 2035. A gigawatt measures how much electricity a power plant can produce at once. Vietnam turned to Korea for this project after Japan withdrew from it.
The multilateral memorandum marks a meaningful starting point for extending Eximbank's accumulated financing expertise into Vietnam's nuclear power sector.
Hwang Ki Yeon, chief executive of the Export Import Bank of Korea, quoted in source 5. Source 5.
Money attached to the same visit, and 1 figure this site checked
The Hanoi visit also produced named dollar figures unrelated to the nuclear plant. Hyundai Rotem signed a contract worth 110 million dollars for rolling stock on Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line 2, with a signing date of 23 April 2026. One wire report also states 332 million dollars for a 3 phase rail project in the same city, with no further detail given. This site reads the 2 figures as different scopes of the same rail program, a multi phase total against a single supply contract inside it, not a contradiction, since the 110 million dollar figure is tied to a named contract and a signing date while the 332 million dollar figure carries none.
The Metro Line 2 figure is a Hyundai Rotem rail contract, unrelated to the Ninh Thuan nuclear plant. One wire report gives a wider 332 million dollar figure for the same rail program, a different scope, not a competing count.
Show the numbers
| Dong Nam New City | 740 |
| Metro Line 2 rolling stock | 110 |
| Gia Binh airport | 70 |