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While I generally agree with the assessment of North Korea, it should be noted that Central Asia is extremely arid especially in the area formerly known as Tibet. Other less illuminated dry areas are the Sahara, and Australia.

Maybe the angle of the satellite photo obscures the light beams from Russia, Alaska, and Australia? Maybe some people just want to sleep at night?

Also, the deep dark jungles of both Africa and South America don't seem to have a lot of bulbs lighting up the night sky. Maybe it's the trees that are in the way? Maybe I'm just being silly?

But what is overwhelmingly obvious is that people like fresh water. We're funny like that. I'll be a US penny that the dryer areas would become better lit at night if there were more irrigation of fresh water (hint: Las Vegas and Nevada in general).

Sometimes bright lights at night only signify a certain measure of financial success. Look at Saudi Arabia. I've been there briefly. It's dry dry dry! I remember the gov't there too. They didn't like outsiders very much, and that part of the world didn't like their women to walk about at night either. I wouldn't want to dwell their as I wouldn't want to dwell in North Korea. Yet, Saudi Arabia has some pretty bright lights.

Therefore, I'm going to have to use the McCarthy conspiracy theory to explain why North Korea is so dark: one of the 57 card carrying Communist in the U.S. Department of Defense alerted Pyongyang as to when the night-sky-picture-taking satellite would be snapping shots of the Korean Peninsula. For the exact time that this satellite was overhead, Kim Jong Il gave a "lights out" order. The North Korean SOF shot out any lights still burning and then imprisoned the previous caretaker of that light. Thus, they averted whatever knowledge we might have gained over their military strength.

I'm sure that if having a brightly lit sky at night is the ultimate measure of earthly success, then during a scheduled night-sky-picture-taking satellite shot that every nation seeking the inglorious achievements of human respect would have been burning flares by the millions to upstage their neighbors. I'm sure that there would also be a multitude of others giving a disrespectful "moon" to reflect more of the artificial lite. It may even make the Guinness Records?

Until then, I'll just categorize this as a "cool photo", and say "thanks for the post!"

This is not "one photo," it is a combination of hundreds of separate photos. There is no "angle" to the photos. They are all shot looking straight down. And since there are hundreds of photos and the times are not announced, no nation has any opportunity to "prepare" for the photos with either "lights out" or "lights on." Even assuming that such an attempt to scam the results were even possible.

With regard to the North Korea / South Korea comparison, neither climate or geography or any other factor than the contrast in governments and economies explains the radical difference between North and South.

This is not just a "pretty picture." It is a global, clear, factual proof of the differences between societies, governments and economies. And the answer is clear. We have done it best; the others have done it progressively worse.

John / Billybob