Best international ETFs: one cheap fund, then the Korea choice
Split developed and emerging markets without matching index families and you will own South Korea twice, or not at all, while a single Vanguard fund holds it once.
Key takeaways
The best place to start, if you want one fund for stocks outside the United States, is Vanguard Total International Stock ETF, VXUS. It earns an A from etf.net, measured against funds that make the same promise, and it charges 0.05%.
VXUS tracks an FTSE index of large, midsize and small companies in developed and emerging markets. Vanguard reported 8,901 stocks and $163.2 billion in the ETF as of Sept. 30. South Korea was 6.7% of those stocks.
Through Friday, Oct. 30, its total return was 10.0% for 2026 and 12.9% over the past year.
The close call is Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF, VEU. It also earns an A, and it charges 0.04%, or $1 a year less on $10,000. It holds large and midsize companies in developed and emerging markets. Its total return through Oct. 30 was 10.5% this year and 13.4% over the past year.
A slightly better year is not a reason to call it the better fund. Buy VEU if you do not want the small companies.
iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF, IXUS, is the other fund for companies of every size outside the United States. It also earns an A, at 0.07%. iShares put South Korea at 6.8% of the fund as of Sept. 30.
The three total-international funds bunched within a point
- 2026
- 1-year
- VXUS
- 2026 10.0%
- 1-year 12.9%
- VEU
- 2026 10.5%
- 1-year 13.4%
- IXUS
- 2026 10.5%
- 1-year 13.3%
Own South Korea once
A single fund already holds the country once. The choice appears when developed markets and emerging markets sit in two funds.
FTSE Russell's classification, published Oct. 6, lists South Korea as a developed market. MSCI kept it an emerging market in its June 23 review, citing limits on trading the Korean won offshore, CNBC reported.
Pair iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF, IDEV, with Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, VWO, and South Korea is in neither fund. Pair Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF, VEA, with iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, IEMG, and you own it twice. To hold it once, match the index families: VEA with VWO, or IDEV with IEMG.
VEA earns an A and charges 0.03%. Vanguard reported $231.6 billion in the ETF and 3,903 stocks as of Sept. 30. South Korea sat behind Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada, and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were the two largest holdings.
Samsung and SK hynix are VEA's two largest holdings
IDEV also earns an A, at 0.04%. It tracks an MSCI index of developed markets outside the United States, Canada included. This fund does not hold South Korea.
Through Oct. 30, VEA's total return was 12.2% this year. IDEV's was 9.8%.
IEMG earns an A and charges 0.09%. It tracks an MSCI index of emerging-market stocks, and iShares reported $145.9 billion as of Oct. 30.
VWO earns an A and charges 0.06%, $3 a year less on $10,000. Vanguard reported $125.4 billion in the ETF and 6,507 stocks as of Sept. 30. It tracks an FTSE emerging-markets index, so South Korea is not in the fund. Taiwan Semiconductor was 16.4% of the fund.
South Korea's Kospi index fell 16.2% from the Sept. 30 close to Oct. 30, and it was still up 36% for the year through Oct. 30. IEMG had 19.4% of its money in that market as of Oct. 29. VWO did not hold it.
On a net-asset-value total return, iShares reported 14.6% for IEMG through Oct. 29, and Vanguard reported 3.8% for VWO through Oct. 30.
Buy VXUS if you want one fund. If you use two, pair VEA with VWO, or IDEV with IEMG, so South Korea shows up once.
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