Even though learning Hangul is manageable in terms of studying Korean due to it being an alphabet, what about the pronunciation? Is it actually that hard while Japanese phonology is considered “easier” to pick up. Don’t even forget to mention Mandarin (Chinese) as despite them also using a logographic script, they have about 4-5 tones meaning a word can connotate a different definition based on what you hear.
On the point of tonogenesis in Korean, that actually solves the tense consonant issue for English speakers!
Neat! I have a video on the topic in my to-watch list, but hadn’t looked into the details yet so far.