Inside the £1.6bn abandoned ‘Hotel of Doom’ that's never had a single guest
A gigantic £1.6billion hotel looms over the inhabitants of one infamous city - and is now used as a massive television screen for propaganda instead.
Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea was supposed to welcome its first guests more than 25 years ago but remains empty today, having never housed a single guest. Around 12 miles from Kim Jong-un's palatial home, the 1,082ft-tall skyscraper dominates the skyline in the rogue nation's capital, and was intended to be a symbol of its economic and political strength. But a series of problems over three decades means it has failed to ever open to bookings, and it is now nicknamed the 'Hotel of Doom'.
The 1,082ft-tall skyscraper dominates the skyline in Kim Jong-un's capital (Getty Images)
The building was finally given glass cladding several years ago, but another planned opening never materialised (Corbis via Getty Images)Construction of the sinister-looking hotel began way back in 1987, and was intended to open two years later. Had it finished on time, it would have been the tallest hotel in the world - instead, it holds the record as the tallest unoccupied building on Earth, costing an eye-watering £1.6billion to build. It topped out in 1992, and was planned to have 3,000 rooms in total spread across the three-winged building. But work stopped the same year, as North Korea entered a period of economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Neglected for years to follow, it stood as a skeletal frame with no windows for years until exterior glass panels were finally installed in July 2011. The new façade prompted promises from North Korean officials that the hotel would finally 2012 and then in 2013 after a delay but this never materialised, and it is still believed to be completely empty inside. German luxury hotel group Kempinski pulled out of its planned management of the site just a few months after taking it on, stating that entering the North Korean market was “not currently possible.”
Issues with the building have been blamed in part for it laying unoccupied, with lift shafts reportedly left "crooked" and its floors sloped. Its exposure to the elements is also thought to have weakened its structure. In 2018, new panels were fitted near the top of the building, making it a huge screen for the authoritarian regime's propaganda messages. For several hours each night, the building that doesn’t have electricity inside becomes the backdrop of a massive light show in which more than 100,000 LEDs flash images of famous statues and monuments, bursts of fireworks, party symbols and political slogans.
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Excitement was briefly prompted among observers in June 2018 when a sign was added to the building reading “The Ryugyong Hotel” in both Korean and English, but there is currently no evidence that it has been or will ever be used for its intended purpose - it stands instead as a massive monument to North Korea's dire political and economic situation, as well as its own structural failures.
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