The OP's images are doctored, but regardless of those, I believe that there has been a real large increase in nighttime lights in the last few years, at least since North-Korea started getting paid by Russia for helping fight Ukraine. The large increase doesn't seem to be caused by increased night time activity, but rather by making illumination itself the goal. The new NK night time lights aren't from traffic/gaudy commercial light displays/street lights/random late sleepers/..., but rather from illuminating a bunch of normal buildings from dusk till dawn on the outside. Getting internationally humiliated by the dark night time photos must have hurt someone's feelings.

A June 2026 picture of the NK border town Sinuiji, taken from the Chinese side of the river:

My source of the photo: https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2026/06/27/north-korea-solar-plant-boom/ The theory that NK is doing these illumination projects purely to appear brighter on photos is entirely my own. I see it as Potemkin villages in a modern jacket.

[–] calliope@retrolemmy.com 1 points 2 hours ago

I bet you’re right. Especially with how cheap it is to use LED lighting.

They literally already have Potemkin villages like Kijong-dong. What’s a bunch of lighting to look better on these silly “development” maps?

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world -3 points 2 hours ago

its crazy to see how propagandized some people are against a country that has done nothing wrong to them. We expect such people to bring change, while in reality they are loyal to establishment.

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 1 points 7 hours ago

I find it interesting that the DMZ is completely lit all the way across. I wonder if there any other examples of this happening (a contiguous line of light from one coast to the other.)