AFTER waiting and endless speculation, North Korean authorities have finally opened the doors to the famed Ryugyong hotel.
The hotel, which has been under construction for almost four decades, plans to run a casino on the premises.
Located in Pyongyang, the Ryugyong Hotel is the tallest building in North Korea, standing at 1,083 feet tall.
Its pyramid shape can be seen from miles away, dominating the Pyongyang skyline.
Despite this impressive tag, it has never hosted a single guest.
Construction of the “Hotel of Doom” began back in 1987 and was meant to only last two years.
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However, progress was slow until building work stopped altogether in 1992 when North Korea entered economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Repeated setbacks – including a 16-year pause on development – in the years that followed mean that only now might the hotel finally open its doors to the public.
LED panels have since been installed on one side of the hotel, used to display propaganda, turning it into one of the world’s largest billboards.
In 2018, lighting designer King Yong II created a light show comprised of political slogans and party symbols.
North Korea hopes to sell the rights to operate a casino on its premises.
This works on the assumption that the operator will complete the construction of the building’s interior.
The cost of finishing the hotel is estimated to be around $2 billion or 5% of the country’s entire GDP.
All external construction was completed in 2011, but the walls of the 360,000 square foot interior remain bare.
Simon Cockerell, a general manager of a company specialising in tours of North Korea, described the blank interior.
He told CNN that he was taken to the lobby area, “where there was a lot of exposed cement.”
He was then taken to the 99th floor, describing it as “alienatingly high.”
A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed.
“The plan is to try to attract foreign investment,” a Pyongyang resident told a local radio station.
The resident added: “The authority to determine the location of the casino to be installed at the hotel and the right to operate the casino will be granted to a foreign entrepreneur who invests in the cost of internal construction.
“The project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
This review took place under the watchful eye of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un who intends to take “practical measures” to boost foreign tourism.
The North Korean government recognises that casinos are a lucrative investment as it allows them to extract foreign currency from international visitors.
There are currently two “foreigner-only” casinos.
One at the Yanggakdo in Pyongyang and the other at the Bipa Hotel in the Rason Special Economic Zone.
Residents hope that tourism in Pyongyang will be “revitalised” once the hotel’s amenities are up and running.
However, despite plans to finish the hotel, North Korea has suddenly paused its Western tourist drive.
This comes only weeks after visitors entered the country for the first time in years.
Travel groups offering trips to the port city of Rason report that they have been suspended.
Young Pioneer Tours advised holidaymakers to refrain from booking flights “until we have more information” on Wednesday.
“We have been advised by our partners in the DPRK that trips to Rason are currently paused,” they wrote on Facebook.
“We are in the process of clarifying how this will impact your upcoming trips.”
North Korea welcomed western visitors for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Restrictions were eased slightly in 2023 when Russian visitors were allowed in.
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