CrosswordNewsletters
DAILY BEAST
  • Covid-19
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Royalist
  • World
  • Half Full
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
  • Travel
Travel

Nobody’s Home at the Hermit Kingdom’s Ghost Hotel

What a World

In 1987, North Korea began building a mega, 105-floor luxury hotel. Now 27 years later, the giant, unfinished shell is a reminder of the country's unfulfilled tourism dreams.

Nina Strochlic

Updated Feb. 27, 2020 3:46PM ET / Published May. 22, 2014 5:45AM ET 
BEAST INSIDE

Eric Lafforgue/Invision Images/Redux

It’s a ready-to-launch spaceship, it’s a post-apocalyptic command center—no, it’s a completely empty hotel. Towering above the boxy gray buildings of downtown Pyongyang, the abandoned, 1,083-foot building is aptly nicknamed North Korea’s “Hotel of Doom.”

For 27 years, the 105 floors of Ryugyong Hotel, a monstrous three-winged, glass-and-concrete pyramid, have gone unused. Its presence is a looming reminder of the estimated $750 million wasted on a tourism industry that never materialized, and an absurd misuse of funds in a country where food, electricity, and health care for citizens are scarce.

North Korea broke ground on the project in 1987, with a two-year timeline for completion. Overseen by the regime of Kim Il-Sung—the current dictator’s grandfather—the hotel was seen as a rib at South Korea for winning the 1988 Olympic Games after the DPRK had proposed the neighboring countries share hosting duties.

READ THIS LIST

DAILY BEAST
  • Covid-19
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Royalist
  • World
  • Half Full
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
  • Travel
  • Beast Inside
  • Crossword
  • Newsletters
  • Podcasts
  • About
  • Contact
  • Tips
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Help
  • Privacy
  • Code of Ethics & Standards
  • Diversity
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Copyright & Trademark
  • Sitemap
  • Coupons
© 2021 The Daily Beast Company LLC