While all their neighbours glow, North Korea remains steadfastly in the dark bar a tiny dot for the capital Pyongyang.
We all know that North Korea's dictatorial policies have made it one of the most unknown, and feared, nations on Earth. The few reports to have emerged from there in recent years speak of very difficult living conditions for the population under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, the third generation dictator of the country.
Journalists who have visited and reported to the rest of the world on the country have frequently spoken of regular power outages as one of the many problems the country deals with and now a picture released by NASA from the International Space Station confirms that problem.
Showing a glowing South Korea below and a bright China above, almost all of North Korea remains in total darkness. The one bright spot in the middle is the capital Pyongyang.
"In this north-looking view, it is immediately obvious that greater Seoul is a major city and that the port of Gunsan is minor by comparison," NASA said in a statement.
"North Korea is almost completely dark compared to neighbouring South Korea and China. The darkened land appears as if it were a patch of water joining the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan."
NASA also point out that coastlines on most countries are usually lit up due to people living near the sea but North Korea doesn't appear to have any coastline because of the lack of artificial light.
