It only winds up being suicide by border guard if someone is trying to escape, not so much so if someone is trying to get in. Not too many people want to go to North Korea if they can help it.

I wonder if his angle is to be taken in by North Korea in the hopes of being used as a poster child for North Korean propaganda. Considering he was on his way to getting flown back to the states for further disciplinary action after getting out of a Korean prison, he might assume that's his best bet for a decent life since he might be assuming North Korea will pamper him so that they can use him to talk about how terrible the U.S. And South Korea are.

Back when I was in Korea, people that wound up in a Korean jail usually didn't get shipped back to the states; it was more likely they'd be stripped of rank, locked down to the military base, and put on permanent detail for the rest of their time there (think "spending any free time scrubbing toilets and picking up trash around the base).

Things like serious assaults on local nationals could land someone a flight back though, so it's very possible that whatever he did was bad enough that he thinks his life would be over if he went back to the states, so I guess that might be his play. How it's going to pan out for him is another matter though - he may be treated well by the North Korean government (from what I've heard they tend to pamper their foreign mouthpieces to keep them placated and compliant), or he may wind up a bargaining chip for foreign aid from the U.S. depending on how low their resources are.

Mind you, I'm hardly an expert on the relations and current situation in North Korea, just a guy that was stationed over in South Korea for a few years in a non-intelligence capacity, so take all of this as idle speculation.

Good luck getting the coop finished! I still need to finish the coops and run for our chickens and ducks - they're currently living in our woodshed at night and free-ranging during the day until those are done. Just a heads up in case you aren't aware already - if your guinea(s) is/are male, it might start getting aggressive when it hits around a year old, so try to prepare accordingly. Ours got very mean towards any chickens other than the two Brahmas it had bonded with and was actually harming the others. Not a guarantee that it will happen, but it might be good to have a separate space for the sake of your flock if it does. For now though, enjoy the babies; it never gets old having little peepers scrambling around and being chaos!

My week is going well, all things considered. I'm in the New England area and all the surrounding areas are suffering from flooding, but my town is unscathed at the moment. The ducks are pretty happy with all of the rain, the chickens not so much, and I'm annoyed that the shipping container our friends gave us for a duck coop can't be painted to protect it from the moisture, but I'm overall thankful that the government response has been pretty quick and everyone we know is safe and sound so far.

Congrats on the internet upgrade! I live in a rural area as well, but I (unfortunately) had to cave and get Starlink since the only other option is blazing-fast 5Mbps DSL, which unfortunately won't cut it for my remote work. There's a multiple-municipality fiber co-op getting established at the moment though, and I'm hoping that we'll be connected with them by the end of the year. About the same price, but way faster speeds and way lower latency (and no reliance on Musk), so I'll be switching as soon as I find out it's an option!

If you and your partner enjoy RPG's, I highly recommend Divinity: Original Sin (and Divinity: Original Sin 2, though we haven't finished that one yet). Very story-driven, the tactical combat is a blast when you get into strategizing and collaborating, and there are all sorts of non-combat shenanigans you can get up to as well (the second even more so than the first).

This picture illustrates the difference between the different dragon and dragon-adjacent creatures! My partner is also pretty adamant about this subject, so I've wound up developing the same pedantry.