Was searching the web for news I could use, when I came across this on the NASA Earth Observatory web site:
Kwangju (or Gwangju) Metropolitan City is the fifth largest urban area in South Korea. With a population of 1.4 million people, it is a major economic and cultural center for the southern portion of the country. The city is located in a geographic basin with high mountains to the east—the mountain of Mudeungsan has a peak elevation of 1,140 meters (3,740 feet)—and more open plains to the west.
The most notable feature in this astronaut photograph is an interesting blue cast to the urbanized regions. Digital astronaut photographs capture the same red, green, and blue wavelengths of reflected light that human eyes are sensitive to (known as a “true-color” image), and urban areas typically appear in tones of grey in such images. The distinctive blue-grey color of the Kwangju metropolitan area is the result of numerous blue rooftops, present on both small residential buildings (not visible at the image resolution) and large industrial buildings such as those located at image center and image right. High-resolution imagery of the rooftops (not shown) suggests that the blue color is the result of painting rather than an intrinsic characteristic of the building material.
Very interesting kind of "street photography" going on, showing some distinctive features of Korea, even from space. Perhaps that will be the only place one can safely take pictures in Korea outside of a studio without a written model release and contract, if certain people had their way with things.
Because after all, it's professional photographers – not hot-headed netizens posting images to the Internet with the expressed intent of causing harm – that have been on the minds of everyday Koreans, right?
Anyway, it's interesting that the blue-paint pattern of Korean rooftops can be seen all the way from space. Who knew? Fascinating stuff.