Is there anything I can do about a long period of student status when pursuing an employment-based case?

Many people have maintained student status, or status through a language institute, for a long time. Someone on student status generally won’t have work authorization. USCIS will certainly ask how you supported yourself for so long without work authorization. So you should prepare in advance to document how you funded your tuition, living expenses, and — if you have children — childcare costs during that time. For example, records of money transferred to you from outside the U.S., such as from Korea.

If you worked on campus under a school-issued SSN, you may have some documented income, and you may also have wages earned during OPT.
Since USCIS may otherwise assume you supported yourself through unauthorized work — unauthorized work = an immigration violation = green card denial — it’s worth preparing carefully to avoid that chain of reasoning.