Nobody is “due” anything.
There are over a hundred countries out there, all with some pretty good movie industries. How many awards has Germany, France, The Netherlands etc won recently for example?
And how many American movies have won any awards in Korea lately?
Korean filmmaking has set itself apart from other countries, whose film industries have been stagnant or had their heydays in the past. And let’s not pretend there’s anything remotely comparable to the Oscars in prestige and relevance in other countries. Oscars is meant to celebrate the creme de la creme of the world.
I guessing that “received its due” means that Koreans have been making good movies and Hollywood wasn’t noticing, not that one was picked this year for some other reason unrelated to the film’s quality.