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A $750 million ‘hotel of doom’ that has never had a single guest stay over is now looking for a new investment to open.
The 105-storey, pyramid shaped hotel first saw its construction begin back in 1987 but after facing many delays, it has been left abandoned.
There are a lot of reasons for this - mainly being the fact that it’s located in the secretive regime of North Korea.
Known as the Ryugyong Hotel in the capital of Pyongyang, the 1,083 ft tall building has become a recognizable part of the city’s skyline.
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Work on the hotel has been stopping and starting for decades, with it finally being fitted with metal and glass to finish the exterior in the early 2000s, with the external construction being finalized in 2011.
However, it’s only now that the hotel has hopes of finally opening its doors to the public.
This was made possible after the hotel sold the rights to operate a casino on its premises under the understanding that the firm would complete the construction needed for the hotel’s interior.
According to Radio Free Asia, a Pyongyang resident speaking to RFA Korean said: “A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed. The plan is to try to attract foreign investment.”
The resident went on to say: “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.
“This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
The review took place under an order from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, who is hoping to boost foreign tourism.
Simon Cockerell, who manages a company that holds North Korea tours, talked to CNN about touring the building, saying: “They took us into the lobby area, where there was a lot of exposed cement. Then we went [on] the one working elevator to the top, which was the 99th floor, I believe.
“It took a long time to get there, because it was a service elevator, not a modern lift with a string of buttons. There was a lift operator who determined where to stop. At the top we had a look around, took some pictures and went back down to the lobby again.”
It is estimated that a whopping $750 million has been spent on the hotel so far and it might take a over $2 billion more to finish it off.
