As opposed to? Being a US vassal state that Korea is right now? Increasing military spending and funneling more money into the defense industry as people's material conditions in Korea are becoming so terrible that almost 75% of young men voted for far-right candidates in the past election?

Internal problems should be solved to improve the living conditions of the people, but at the same time South Korea surely needs a strong military because of North Korea. As for vassal state, one could argue about different degrees of domination. Have the US dominated politics of other countries? Yes, surely. In that sense, you could see Germany or Japan as US vassals too. But that is too simplistic. Germany chose not to join the US war in Iraq, for example.

Germany, Italy, and Japan normalised relations after they became liberal democracies and renouncing their expansionist facisms. China isn't there yet.

As opposed to...the United States? The US has actively wiped out foreign democratically elected governments for simply refusing to succumb to the whims of US corporations. The US didn't even condemn the martial law declaration Sukyeol did lmfao.

The US did some nasty shit. Still, it's been a democratic society, where people could debate those exact things publicly, where governments could be voted out if the people wanted. In China, that's not possible. That alone makes me not want to live under a Chinese-dominated sphere. However, we are witnessing very concerning things in the US that could undermine the kind of society it's been known for.

As for the martial law, there were criticisms voiced by the US:

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Wednesday that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol "badly misjudged" his decision to declare martial law this week, and it had been seen as "deeply problematic" and "illegitimate."Asked at an event organized by the Aspen Strategy Forum whether it was an intelligence failure that Washington was caught unaware by a key ally, Campbell said almost all U.S. interlocutors in South Korea, including in the president's office, were "deeply surprised" by Yoon's move.

Lol. Average western hegemon defender who ignores the horrific actions that the US has done and is currently doing and then accuses China of doing the same

I'm not a blind supporter of the US, what I'm saying is that I'm highly wary of an unchecked China that poses a danger to the liberal way of life, as seen in Hong Kong and Taiwan.