They literally came out of nowhere. Maybe China made some rejects of their training programme (who are still way better than the rest of the world) pass as North Korean.
The Eurodance section at the end before the floating horse went on way too long.
But since it meant more triggering of anti-woke reactionary crybabies, guess that was a win as well.
Finished "Land fit for heroes" trilogy. In the end, it doesn't live up to its initial promise. Interesting setting and characters are introduced in the first book, and after that nothing really happens anymore.