And if they have become a participant, does that mean Ukraine can send a few special drones to NK, the way they’ve been hitting the Russians in Syria?

Aircraft are generally not required to accept surrender unless it is apparent that the surrendering soldiers have removed themselves from the conflict (disarmed) and are headed toward your lines (intent to give up). Even then it’s a judgment call if the aircraft is incapable of escorting them to nearby ground troops who can accept their surrender and take them into custody. That’s why you see videos of unarmed soldiers making the surrender gestures and they still get taken out by the drone. They’re too far behind enemy lines to facilitate taking them prisoner.

Don’t know why it took them this long. Seems like such a simple thing to mount a gun to a drone. In most of these drone videos, the soldiers are standing, laying on the ground, or running in a straight line. Easy targets for a rifle.