Not if your family stayed behind...

They wouldn't be the first defectors to take that hit and keep going, and those defectors weren't being used as cannon fodder in a foreign war.

Sounds like literally the worst possible situation to defect. You are in totally foreign country, where you are trivially identified, can't hide and can't reach any other country which might support you. Additionally you are now a soldier who has defected, which obviously is an even worse crime than just defecting.

Additionally, the Kim regime is holding your loved ones hostage to torture in case you defect.

> can't reach any other country which might support you

Isn't the obvious move here for Ukraine to airdrop pamphlets saying they'll warmly accept any defecting North Koreans?

I think you have enormous misconceptions about how war functions.

>Ukraine to airdrop pamphlets

Ukraine is currently not in a position to airdrop anything over anyone for some vanity project. The idea of the Ukraine penetrating Russian air space with the aim of dropping some paper leaflets is just ridiculous.

And even if such a pamphlet gets dropped, a NK soldier miraculously finds it, what is he to do? If he defects, he has multiple days of marching to do to arrive at the Frontline, where any discovery means death, then he has to cross that front line and get to an Ukrainian post without getting shot by either side and explain some Ukrainian guy that he is a NK defector.

The chances are just abysmal and the punishment for discovery are extremely high. It is extremely easy to imagine how this will end for any soldier, doing this legitimately takes mountains of stupidity.