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I know this is a generalization, but from online and interactions with Koreans in real life, my impression of Korea compared to other countries in the Chinese cultural sphere it is the one that is still most strictly Confucian and has the least amount of chill. Which is for sure a massive simplification of the issue, but it does explain some things.
All these countries share core values of strong family ties, high value in education, hard work, general modesty in societal interactions, but of course Confuciniasm isn't nearly as strong anymore in Japan, China, and Vietnam because of the various social and political changes that occurred through the ages. Korea though seems to have retained the strictest intrepretation of traditional Confucianism and thus a lot of its toxic aspects are magnified to 11.
Extreme competition is something all East Asian societies struggle from but Koreans are almost sadistic in its application. Indeed, I've talked with others who have interacted with Korean foreign students in the West, some are laid back but a lot take competition seriously to the point where they engaged in bullying. Sexism is another issue that just, lets be brutally honest is just a general flaw of human nature no matter what cultural background you hail from. Some are worse than others though and Korea is particularly known for its misogyny. And of course the extreme emotions behind the current nationalist sentiments among its youth, a trend bucker since youth around the world generally are more libera.
Its just an interesting thing, almost everyone in the world today has problems and their own ways of facing them. It seems in the West most people just bury their heads in the sand, most Chinese youth struggling still choose to remain optimistic or at least take things day by day. Korea is like one of the only places where their reaction is lash out at everything in rabid anger and I don't know, as nasty as they can be at times I just generally feel pity.
