Night-time satellite images of the Korean peninsula – showing North Korea as a black hole surrounded by the gleaming lights of economic powerhouses like China, Japan and South Korea – have become a click-winning favorite among online media outlets.

Most recently, footage captured from the International Space Station made headlines worldwide with a raw display of disparities between North Korea and its more well-off neighbors.

But while the contrasts apparent in such footage is visually stunning, it is not very informative, according to researchers. “We don’t need satellites to tell us (that) South Korea is more economically developed than North