I wish to ask all here for your expert opinions on to what extent was North Korea a Soviet satellite state during the Cold War?

North Korea was governed by a Soviet military administration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Civil_Administration) and there were Soviet troops on North Korean soil.

Thus, the formation of North Korea was similar to the Soviet Satellite States like Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania.

I can understand why Cuba and Yugoslavia managed to maintain relative independence from USSR, as they were both geographically far away and did not underwent Soviet occupation. But North Korea seems like an outlier.