This is closely related to its origins. The words
“gun budae” often refers to military camps in Korea.
After the Korean war, food was extremely scare and surplus processed foods from the US military bases became useful for the Korean. Surplus foods such as processed meat products from army bases, are used by people to create thick
jjigae (stews).
Thus, the name “Army Stew”.
To me, the main differentiating factor between competing restaurants is always in its base, that it has a balanced mix of spiciness, saltiness and slight sweetness (from the tomato baked beans), with the density not overly gravy-thick, or soup-like thin.