Stories about North Korea I heard from my Chinese colleague

This person is from Dandong, which is right across from Sinuiju.
(She graduated from university in Hangzhou, married a Korean man who was her college sweetheart, and is currently living in Korea.)
She told me some stories about North Korea:

1. North Koreans live much worse than you can imagine.
   They live far worse than Koreans realize. Just looking at their appearance, they are no different from beggars.
   You can see North Korea very clearly from the Tumen River area, and every time I look across the river, I can't help but feel pity for them.
2. Their dependence on Chinese daily necessities is extremely high.
   My aunt is a window trader who travels between the marketplaces in North Pyongan Province,
   and the dependence on Chinese products is massive across all essential categories, including clothing, toothpaste, spices, appliances, snacks, and furniture.
   This is because products from North Korean state-owned enterprises are of very poor quality and have low supply volumes.
   They even use Chinese glass for windows, and if they can't afford that, they substitute it with Chinese plastic sheeting.
3. Most defectors are still living in China.
   There are many defectors living secretly in Shenyang, Harbin, and Yanji.
   Even when their neighbors—either ethnic Koreans (Joseonjok) or Han Chinese—advise them, asking, "Why don't you go to safe South Korea?"
   Most of them refuse to listen, saying they will eventually return to their homeland.
   In particular, when ethnic Koreans curse Kim Il-sung, calling him "the man who starved his people to death," the defectors reportedly get extremely angry.