Why do people bring South Korea into the conversation whenever the Japanese economy is criticized?

Whenever people say the Japanese economy is doing poorly, they inevitably follow up with things like, "Do they think South Korea is any different? Look at their debt and all that."
To state the facts, Japan has been in an economic depression for nearly 40 years, while South Korea has at least been managing to grow.
Per capita national income and disposable income have likely already been overtaken.
Nowadays, most South Koreans actually live better than Japanese people.
So why do people get so defensive and drag the South Korean economy into it?