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Satellite image shows North Korea completely in the dark

South Korea and China can be spotted from space - but North Korea is cloaked in darkness. (NASA)

Are you afraid of the dark?

If you live in North Korea, you better hope not. This is a NASA satellite image released yesterday of North Korea.

Oh, you don’t see it? Yeah, that’s because the county is in the dark, literally.

Based on this satellite photo, it looks as if there is a sea between China and South Korea. The obvious lack of power between the two countries makes North Korea look more like a black hole than a country at all.

This photo was taken at night on January 30 from the International Space Station and if you didn’t know better, the parts that are lit up just look like land masses, separated by water.

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It’s shocking to know that North Korea is in there somewhere, especially with such a contrast in energy to their neighboring countries. The country’s capital, Pyongyang, which looks like a small island located in the center of these two lively landmasses, is pretty much the only city still illuminated by lights.

Thanks, Kim Jong-un, you’re really doing a fantastic job cleaning up your father’s mess.

For a country that prided itself on complete unity, they look pretty segregated right now.

The differences, not only illuminated just from the photo, can be illustrated in power consumption per capita: South Korea at a whopping 10,162 kilowatt hours and North Korea at a mere 739 kilowatt hours. Even when you put it that way, the difference is extremely shocking.

Being one of the only countries still under communist rule, North Korea seems to be segregated from the rest of the world, not only by being cloaked in the dark.

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After emerging in 1948, North Korea’s true history stemmed from domination by its leader, beginner of the Kim dynasty, Kim Il-sung. Decades of his state-controlled system led North Korea down an economically dreary path. He built a leadership based on the cult of personality, which eventually led to the demise of this totalitarian state. For years, there have been reports of torture, public executions, slave labor, forced abortions, and infanticides in prison camps.

Over the years, things have progressively gotten worse. It seems the country has resorted to using nuclear threats to get what they want, forcing tensions to rise between them and the rest of the world.

In 2010, South Korea accused North Korea of sinking one of its warships and cut off all cross-border trade. Sure, that’ll help the economy …

Fast-forward to Feb. 2012 when the current leader Kim Jong-un is playing games with the U.S., agreeing to suspend long-range missile tests for food aid, and then almost immediately announcing a forthcoming “rocket-launched satellite”…it is not wise to mess with ‘Merica, Mr. Jong-un, just a warning.

North Korea is in the dark for so many more reasons than a little power outage … and if things continue this way, they may never see the light. A word of advice, North Korea? Elect a new leader, immediately.

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