diff --git a/src/core/render/compiler/link.js b/src/core/render/compiler/link.js
index c884b2b90..925e93051 100644
--- a/src/core/render/compiler/link.js
+++ b/src/core/render/compiler/link.js
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ export const linkCompiler = ({
       }
 
       href = router.toURL(href, null, router.getCurrentPath());
+
+      if (config.target) {
+        href.indexOf('mailto:') !== 0 && attrs.push(`target="${linkTarget}"`);
+      }
     } else {
       if (!isAbsolutePath(href) && href.slice(0, 2) === './') {
         href =
diff --git a/test/integration/render.test.js b/test/integration/render.test.js
index 4b6fbc1b3..ad4b81dd0 100644
--- a/test/integration/render.test.js
+++ b/test/integration/render.test.js
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ describe('render', function () {
       );
     });
 
-    test('target', async function () {
+    test('target for absolute path', async function () {
       const output = window.marked("[alt text](http://url ':target=_self')");
 
       expect(output).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
@@ -261,6 +261,14 @@ describe('render', function () {
       );
     });
 
+    test('target for relative path', async function () {
+      const output = window.marked("[alt text](/url ':target=_blank')");
+
+      expect(output).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+        `"<p><a href=\\"#/url\\" target=\\"_blank\\">alt text</a></p>"`
+      );
+    });
+
     test('class', async function () {
       const output = window.marked(
         "[alt text](http://url ':class=someCssClass')"