I had the same reaction when I looked at Japanese Hiragana/Katakana chart. + you have to learn Kanji...
Only reason Korean is easier is because
1. All you have to know is how to pronounce the words. We do use Hanja, but we write them in Korean (sometimes in parenthesis to clarify what word is written,but mostly, we go with the flow of language.)
2. It takes time, but it's actually much easier than English since there are less tricky way to pronounce the word. Korean letters are made with only one pornounciation (with some rules to pronounce them in certain cases for "ㅇ") so it won't be much difficult once you get the hang of it. After mastering how to read, write, and speak; only thing left is learning words and grammar. Then advanced stuff like Hanja.
3. According to the history Chinese characters were very difficult to learn (and it was only taught to riches), King Se-jong decided to make a new language in order to have the people (poors, pheasants, farmers) understand what the notices say, and learn to communicate by writing.
I'd say Korean and Japanese are equally difficult. It may not look like Korean use Hanja very often, but even the basic word like "우유" (Oo-Yoo), is actually Hanja: "牛乳" meaning "Cow Milk". Similarily, "모유" (Mo-Yoo), is "母乳" meaning "Mother Milk" (in English, we call it "Breast Milk")
Basically, in Korean, you learn Hanja without knowing it, except for the writing since it is spoken more often.
Sometimes it is better to learn Hanja because you can catch similar words faster, like the example above. "유" (Yoo) was used as the Hanja: "乳" meaning "Milk" so if you put various words(if the combined word exists,) you can actually understand it's a type of milk.
other examples are:
두유 "Doo-Yoo", Soy Milk
마유"Ma-Yoo", Horse Milk
당유 "Dang-Yoo", Condensed Milk(Dang means Sugar, but we know it as Condensed Milk)