Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

Oh, dear! Now that the kids have seen the big city, you can't get them back to the farm!

Let's take a look at some parameters here. Not all people in NK - military or civilian - believe all the propaganda crap that is fire-hosed at them. But they know trying to escape is certain death. So you're in the army, and your unit is shipped off to Russia. You're no longer under constant watch from NK handlers, so what the hell!

At least 18 NK troops have defected in the Kursk region where the Russians were trying to form up a battalion where the Ukrainians forces have invaded Russia and have been having all sorts of fun attacking fuel and ammunition depots. Additionally, nine or so NK officers have been seriously injured or killed, several have been air-lifted to Moscow for treatment.

In June, Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact with a clause akin to NATO's Article 5, NK is now supplying troops in addition to the weapons and munitions that they've shipped over.

https://www.newsweek.com/north-korean-troops-deserting-ukraine-frontline-hours-after-arrival-report-1969726

Unfortunately the article is behind a Wall Street Journal paywall and I can't find any alternatives at this time. The problem is, there are no real details as to which border area they're talking about, one would presume their border with China as that is where most of their commerce and foreign trade passes through. I hope that's the case, although the DPRK has been denying the existence of Covid within its borders, it's undeniable that it has been hitting the country hard.

From the Slashdot summary:
"North Korea and Eritrea, in east Africa, were the only remaining countries that hadn't started widespread vaccination distribution, the World Health Organization has said. After rejecting millions of doses from other countries last year, North Korea admitted to its first nationwide Covid-19 outbreak in May and declared victory in August. Then, earlier this month, leader Kim Jong Un said Covid-19 vaccines would be distributed starting in November. He cited findings from the country's antiepidemic experts that North Koreans who contracted Covid-19 in May and June would experience a decline in their antibody response starting in October.

During a Wednesday briefing to South Korean lawmakers, Seoul's spy agency said North Korea had begun distributing vaccines, though it didn't specify in which border areas. The lawmakers who were briefed didn't say where the vaccines had come from or when they were first distributed. Repeated lockdowns suggest North Korea hasn't eradicated the virus, the spy agency told lawmakers. Considering some recent resumption of flights and train operations between China and North Korea, it is most likely that China is supplying the vaccines, said Hong Min, of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, a government-funded think tank."


https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/09/28/1524200/north-korea-launches-mass-covid-19-vaccination-campaign

"Now that the US is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war, [our] revolutionary armed forces...will exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors."
—North Korean government statement in response to new UN sanctions

I really feel sorry for the people of North Korea for having to live under this family of idiots for 50+ years.

Yes, lovely-(and ironically-)named Democratic People's Republic of Korea has nukes. Yes, they've apparently launched something in to orbit. But that's not the same as an ICBM. If they did succeed in launching and hitting and detonating a nuke in the U.S., their country would be over so fast that they wouldn't know what hit them.

You can Google Map view North Korea. It looks like post-WW II Germany. Amazingly desolate. I've never understood why the army doesn't take out the government, I guess they have some great indoctrination to the troops and payoffs to the troop's leaders.