Hong Kong has emerged as South Korea's number one trade surplus nation in 2019, beating China for the top spot.

According to data released by the Korea Customs Service on Tuesday, South Korea posted a surplus of over 30 billion dollars last year in its trade with Hong Kong, the largest amount of all its trade partners.

China held the top ranking since 2009 but last year, shipments fell by 16 percent, dropping the country to second place.

At third place is Vietnam trailed by the United States and India.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the scale, South Korea posted the largest deficit in its trade with Japan, recording over 19 billion dollars in the red.

However, the deficit volume with Japan decreased, reaching the lowest level since 2004, due to the bilateral trade conflict.