Oh I 100% agree with you. The actors today seem to be picked for their good looks especially actresses. Absolute lack of polish and in some cases lack of actual acting talent. It isn't like HK is experiencing 100% employment! Why don't they start recruiting talent in high school? Have auditions and aptitude tests that anyone can go to regardless of money or connections and then train them; besides not everyone can get a seat in college or go to college overseas; this would be one alternate path for them.
Concerning Korean drama, I've only seen one (Autumn Colors/Eternal Love). That cast blows the socks off today's HK actors . And the director and writers know how to work up the audience.
I've been looking for TV series in China but even there it disappoints! The actors are frequently miscast, actresses get picked for their beauty (explicit example, Condor Heroes 2008's Mui Chiu Fong), the acting is SO shallow (Condor Heroes 2003's Yong Yi), and the script and direction tend to NOT capitalize on chances to hook the audience. It is as if these people are robots who studied emotion from a dictionary but never experienced it. With 1 billion people, you would think they could do better than this.