This new nighttime NASA photo shows North Korea to be a dark, barren wasteland

Looking at this new photo taken by astronauts on the International Space Station, you'd be excused for thinking that North Korea had sunk into the sea.

As NASA notes, "city lights at night illustrate dramatically the relative economic importance of cities, as gauged by relative size."

South Korea's Seoul (population 25.6 million) is shining bright, while North Korea's Pyongyang — smaller than Seoul, but still a city of more than 3.25 million people — barely shows up.

The rest of North Korea is covered in darkness. South Korea's coastline is clearly lit, but it's almost impossible to tell where North Korea's land meets water.

NASA has also released a time-lapse video of images taken from the ISS as it traveled from Bangkok to the North Pacific. It's pretty remarkable. You can see the emptiness that is North Korea beginning at 00:11