it might make more want to defect (though any information gained by the state will not be widely diseminated unless it supports their narrative), but it has become far, far more difficult to defect successfully over the past decade or so. i watched a pretty interesting video about it a week or so ago, if you’re interested, but basically, the northern border with china is a lot more fortified and policed, china will deport any caught defectors back to NK and has a huge surveillance state appparatus, and the coyotes charge a hell of a lot more to help folks escape than most north koreans can afford. and then covid happened, and now it’s even more locked down than ever.