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.
My wife learned to read Korean and she said something similar. Korean is easy to read and write but harder to pronounce, while Japanese is the opposite.