This was the satellite photo which shamed North Korea by showing how the people of the hermit kingdom endure inky blackness at night. But now the hermit kingdom's propaganda machine has hit back, proclaiming that the stoic workers of the People's Republic have no need for 'flashy lights'. A recent editorial in the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's tightly leashed newspaper of record, also says the photo represents the future of the U.S. - 'an old superpower that is meeting its sunset'. Conspicuous by its absence: North Korea is clearly visible by its lack of lighting at night-time, in this image of the Korean peninsula taken from the International Space Station and circulated by Nasa last year . The famous photo, in circulation for more than a year, captures the bright lights of South Korea and China, including South Korean capital Seoul as the brilliant splash of white and sodium orange close to the border. By contrast, North Korea's city lights are conspicuous by their absence, with the whole country appearing to vanish at night save for a small blob shining from Pyongyang, the seat of power. The Wall Street Journal's Korea Realtime blog unearthed Rodong Sinmun's reference to the picture, in a 4,000-word editorial that reporter Alistair Gale describes as 'a standard hyperbolic North Korean screed'. Under the heading 'Right in front of our eyes' - a reference to a quote from Kim Jong Un, of course - the Rodong Sinmum exhorts North Korea's workers to follow the orders of their leaders to build a great and prosperous nation. 'They [North Korea’s detractors] clap their hands and get loud over a satellite picture of our city with not much light, but the essence of society is not on flashy lights,' it declares, according to WSJ's translation. It points out that the U.S. is beset by problems including massive debts, the Occupy Wall Street protests and the uprising of Black Americans following the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. Those failings, according to the paper, show that 'an old superpower that is meeting its sunset may put up a face of arrogance but it can’t avoid its dark fate.' Bright lights, big city... Youths march in Pyongyang to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Korea's 'revolutionary armed forces'. Pyongyang is the only North Korean city visible from space at night . First published in January last year, the satellite photo snapped from the International Space Station provoked comment on North Korea's failure to light its territory, compared to its highly developed neighbours. A Nasa Earth Observatory spokesman said at the time: 'North Korea is almost completely dark compared to neighboring 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. Its capital city, Pyongyang, appears like a small island, despite a population of 3.26 million (as of 2008). The light emission from Pyongyang is equivalent to the smaller towns in South Korea. 'Coastlines are often very apparent in night imagery, as shown by South Korea’s eastern shoreline. But the coast of North Korea is difficult to detect.' The Nasa statement went on to point out the difference in per capita power consumption between the two countries, with South Koreans consuming nearly 14 times as much as their cousins north of the DMZ. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talksto officers during his visit to a dockyard: Satellite pictures have also been used to keep track of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, which experts fear has restarted . Satellite pictures have not only been used to point out the lack of development in North Korea. Last month experts cited newly relesed images to suggest the country may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor. When fully operational, the five-megawatt facility is reported to be capable of producing about six kilos of plutonium a year - enough for a nuclear bomb. North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, and recently threatened a fourth amid tensions over fresh U.S. sanctions and UN moves to censure Pyongyang for its human rights record.
Hermit kingdom hits back at satellite image a year after its first publication .
'The essence of society is not on flashy lights,' declares NK newspaper .
Indeed, the image shows the future of the U.S. as it meets 'its sunset'
This was the satellite photo which shamed North Korea by showing how the people of the hermit kingdom endure inky blackness at night. But now the hermit kingdom's propaganda machine has hit back, proclaiming that the stoic workers of the People's Republic have no need for 'flashy lights'. A recent editorial in the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's tightly leashed newspaper of record, also says the photo represents the future of the U.S. - 'an old superpower that is meeting its sunset'. Conspicuous by its absence: North Korea is clearly visible by its lack of lighting at night-time, in this image of the Korean peninsula taken from the International Space Station and circulated by Nasa last year . The famous photo, in circulation for more than a year, captures the bright lights of South Korea and China, including South Korean capital Seoul as the brilliant splash of white and sodium orange close to the border. By contrast, North Korea's city lights are conspicuous by their absence, with the whole country appearing to vanish at night save for a small blob shining from Pyongyang, the seat of power. The Wall Street Journal's Korea Realtime blog unearthed Rodong Sinmun's reference to the picture, in a 4,000-word editorial that reporter Alistair Gale describes as 'a standard hyperbolic North Korean screed'. Under the heading 'Right in front of our eyes' - a reference to a quote from Kim Jong Un, of course - the Rodong Sinmum exhorts North Korea's workers to follow the orders of their leaders to build a great and prosperous nation. 'They [North Korea’s detractors] clap their hands and get loud over a satellite picture of our city with not much light, but the essence of society is not on flashy lights,' it declares, according to WSJ's translation. It points out that the U.S. is beset by problems including massive debts, the Occupy Wall Street protests and the uprising of Black Americans following the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. Those failings, according to the paper, show that 'an old superpower that is meeting its sunset may put up a face of arrogance but it can’t avoid its dark fate.' Bright lights, big city... Youths march in Pyongyang to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Korea's 'revolutionary armed forces'. Pyongyang is the only North Korean city visible from space at night . First published in January last year, the satellite photo snapped from the International Space Station provoked comment on North Korea's failure to light its territory, compared to its highly developed neighbours. A Nasa Earth Observatory spokesman said at the time: 'North Korea is almost completely dark compared to neighboring 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. Its capital city, Pyongyang, appears like a small island, despite a population of 3.26 million (as of 2008). The light emission from Pyongyang is equivalent to the smaller towns in South Korea. 'Coastlines are often very apparent in night imagery, as shown by South Korea’s eastern shoreline. But the coast of North Korea is difficult to detect.' The Nasa statement went on to point out the difference in per capita power consumption between the two countries, with South Koreans consuming nearly 14 times as much as their cousins north of the DMZ. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talksto officers during his visit to a dockyard: Satellite pictures have also been used to keep track of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, which experts fear has restarted . Satellite pictures have not only been used to point out the lack of development in North Korea. Last month experts cited newly relesed images to suggest the country may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor. When fully operational, the five-megawatt facility is reported to be capable of producing about six kilos of plutonium a year - enough for a nuclear bomb. North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, and recently threatened a fourth amid tensions over fresh U.S. sanctions and UN moves to censure Pyongyang for its human rights record.
of the U.S. - 'an old superpower that is meeting with not much light, but the essence of society is not on flashy lights,' it declares, according old superpower that is meeting its sunset may put of producing about six kilos of plutonium a year