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- Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, is one of the tallest unoccupied buildings in the world.
- Construction on the “Hotel of Doom” began in 1987 and has stopped and started several times.
- One side of the 1,080-foot building has been outfitted with LED screens used for light shows.
At 1,080 feet, North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang is one of the tallest unoccupied buildings in the world.
The 105-story “Hotel of Doom,” which is also North Korea’s tallest building, has never hosted a single guest. Construction began almost 40 years ago, and it is not yet complete — the cost of finishing the building is estimated to be around 5% of the country’s entire GDP.
Still, Ryugyong Hotel remains a subject of international fascination.
Here’s the story behind the abandoned skyscraper that dominates the capital city’s skyline.
Construction on the Ryugyong Hotel began in Pyongyang in 1987, but halted due to economic troubles in North Korea.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, North Korea lost its main trading partner and source of aid, spurring an economic crisis.
The hotel reached its full height in 1992, but the inside was never completed.
The Ryugyong Hotel is 105 stories tall and is sometimes referred to as the 105 Building.
To this day, it has never hosted a single guest.
Despite its aversion to foreign visitors, North Korea does have several functional hotels in Pyongyang. Until the Ryugyong Hotel is completed, the Yanggakdo International Hotel is the city’s largest, and the Ryanggang Hotel is widely regarded as the fanciest.
Its pyramid shape dominates the Pyongyang skyline from miles away.
Each of the building’s three sections, which join together at the top, are 100 meters, or 328 feet long, Atlas Obscura reported.
At the very top of the building, an eight-story cone-shaped section was supposed to feature revolving restaurants.
It remains empty, like the rest of the hotel.
More external work began on the hotel in 2008 with the installation of glass panels over its entire surface.
An Egyptian contractor, the Orascom group, took over the project and revived construction in 2008, Reuters reported.
It would cost an estimated $2 billion to finally finish the Ryugyong Hotel, Reuters reported in 2008, citing South Korean media.
North Korea’s gross domestic product is around $40 billion, according to the most recent data on CIA’s World Factbook. That makes the cost of finishing the building around 5% of the country’s entire GDP.
In the meantime, North Korea has found other uses for the building.
Pyongyang celebrated May Day in 2009 with a fireworks display framing the Ryugyong Hotel.
It serves as a dramatic backdrop for performances by art troupes.
The troupes’ performances usually contain propaganda messages. North Korea sent an art troupe to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
It also provides a backdrop for propaganda messages made up of over 100,000 LED screens.
In 2018, lighting designer Kim Yong Il created a light show comprised of political slogans and party symbols. It played on the building’s surface for several hours every night.
The building itself still lacks electricity, and there’s no expected completion date, but there have been new signs of construction progress.
Alek Sigley, an Australian student who was studying for his master’s degree in Korean literature at Kim Il Sung University, posted on X about new signage above the main entrance of the hotel in June 2019. A month later, Sigley was detained for a week and subsequently released after North Korean authorities accused him of committing “spying acts” against the state. He was later expelled from the country.
North Korean authorities are reportedly hoping to find a foreign investor to build a casino in the empty space.
Radio Free Asia reported in July 2024 that North Korean leadership is seeking a foreign investor to purchase gambling rights and operate a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel as part of a deal to finish the rest of its interior.
Authorities hope to replicate the success and profitability of the casino at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo International Hotel, which has proven popular with tourists, the outlet reported, citing an anonymous North Korean source.
It continues to live up to its nickname, “Hotel of Doom.”
The hotel’s actual name, “Ryugyong,” comes from a historical name for Pyongyang meaning “capital of willows.”
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