What's with all the great manhwa recently?

I started reading Noblesse not long ago, and it is pretty freaking great!
But I notice that these manhwa have become much more prominent in recent times, and it is probably worth noting that most of them are technically webcomics as well.

Sure, some series blow, some are good for a while and then flops.
But there's such a large amount of superb series now!
The oldest manhwa series I've read was High School which is over a decade old now.(and it is pretty badass and hilarious. Give it a try)

Korea has never really had an industry around manhwa as serious as in Japan, but these webcomics seem to be a serious creative outlet now.
Several of these series are apparently also being published free to read.(in Korea, at least)
I'd put the range on this "surge" of manhwa at the last four years or so, though Noblesse started in 2008.
Does anyone have a logical breakdown of this?
Manhwa are taking up an increasingly large chunk of my reading material nowadays.

(I'm going to refer to manga along with manwha as a synonym for comic medium, just to save time and confusion)

Sauce

The manga market itself seems to have shrunk over the last several years (overall worldwide) and Korea's manga consumption is essentially all from imports.

This growing void, and the fact that the paper medium has been in decline with the ever increasing popularity and availability of the internet (Korea has amazing infrastructure) could have pushed local/younger artists to take advantage of the opportunities the internet provides with distribution and ease of access.

The comments also point to promoting done by Koreans in foreign markets exceeded the efforts of Japan as a factor.

The ease of access for distribution rights is also probably a factor. Japan seems to have stricter laws and more red-tape to cut through and tend to be more restrictive of who they let distribute in foreign markets. The Koreans are newer to the block and haven't had a monopoly that has caused their business models to become stagnated relics of an era passed.

TL;DR Lesser known artists taking advantage in a market gap and distribution practices that better promote their product on an international level.

Maybe from reader's point of view

Colored stuff is better to read then b&w , Since all these webcomics are catchy with their bright colors and Vivid design.
Manhwa again have different artstyle's then usual japanese one's so thats another factor.
And finally maybe people are tired of seeing japan in every story? (Or just getting destroyed by 1 of 126129124 ways).
So korean manhwa show us new stuff, Like Sun-Ken Rock - it tells us all about korea , its market ,economy and stuff.

Else what geko said

I've just been getting into manhwa recently. I started with Tower of God and it became one of my favorites. Now I'm reading Black Haze, it's really good also. Planning on reading The Gamer soon

Personally for me I think Korean artist are filling in gaps that the Japanese are no longer concern about. Take the martial arts genre. There are very few fighting manga these days and what there simply doesn't appeal to me. I wish they would take over the "shounen romance" category. Its hard to find good manga like Good Ending and ‎Suzuka.

It is really easy to follow good webcomics online, and the all colour format does up the enjoyment of readers. Webtoons is legal way of following them online, for free, and what I like about it is how amateurs can publish there and get regular slots if enough readers vote for them. There is a real international community of readers.

I love Winter Woods, as well as Tower of God, Noblesse, Lessa and Untouchable at the moment.