The cursed hotel

Jutting out of the cold, dank city fog, a massive triangular monolith erupts from the skyline. The city below, with its boxy, concrete apartment blocks, cannot match the sheer size of this bizarrely shaped building, which reaches 1,083 feet into the sky. Despite its foreboding appearance, this structure is actually a hotel—a little taller than France's Eiffel Tower or New York's Chrysler Building. With 3.9 million square feet of usable floor space and 3,000 rooms, it's large enough to rival some of the world's biggest hotels. It was even designed to include casinos and nightclubs. You'd expect it to be bustling with life, but despite its shiny facade, this hotel has never welcomed a single guest and has remained empty for nearly 30 years. This is the Ryugyong Hotel, located in one of the most repressive countries on Earth, North Korea, in its capital, Pyongyang.

The story begins in 1986, during the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, with North Korea backing the Soviets and South Korea siding with the U.S. This rivalry extended beyond military might and into feats of perceived strength. In 1986, a South Korean firm completed the Stamford Hotel in Singapore, the tallest hotel in the world at that time. Additionally, South Korea was preparing to host the 1988 Olympics, a significant democratic statement against North Korea. In response, North Korea aimed to outdo its neighbor by organizing the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students, a socialist counterpart to the Olympics. To accommodate the 22,000 participants, Pyongyang extended its airport, built a new 150,000-seat stadium, and began constructing the 3,000-room Ryugyong Hotel. At 105 stories high, it would have been the tallest hotel globally, putting North Korea on the map with only 21 buildings worldwide boasting over 100 floors at the time.

However, North Korea faced significant challenges, lacking access to advanced construction materials such as steel. Instead, they used concrete, which, without sufficient steel reinforcement, isn't ideal for skyscrapers. The design featured three wings inclined at 75 degrees, rising from a wide base to a tapered top, converging at the top 15 floors, which would house world-class restaurants and observation decks. Construction began in 1987, but by the time of the festival in 1989, the hotel was far from finished. The project was delayed due to engineering issues, with a new completion date set for 1992 to coincide with the 80th birthday of the supreme leader, Kim Il-Sung.

However, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, leading to North Korea's economic downfall. The project was halted due to a lack of funds, leaving an unfinished, concrete pyramid haunting Pyongyang's skyline. Japanese reports later revealed the building had cost North Korea $750 million, about two percent of their GDP at the time. The unfinished structure remained without windows, fixtures, or fittings for 16 years. The rusted construction cranes atop it became too corroded to use. Demolishing the structure would have signaled financial weakness, so it was left standing, earning the nickname "Hotel of Doom."

In 2008, under Kim Jong-Il's reign, construction resumed through an investment deal with the Egyptian company Orascom, which also provided the country with a 3G network. Despite claims of irreparable structural issues from European visitors, a new opening date was set for 2012, marking Kim Il-Sung's 100th anniversary. By 2011, the exterior was complete, but the interior remained unfinished. A group of tourists in 2012 found vast concrete expanses without furnishings or fittings, and the hotel wasn't connected to the main power grid.

In late 2012, the German luxury hotel group Kempinski announced it would manage the hotel, with a partial opening set for mid-2013. However, due to Kim Jong-Un's nuclear tests and resulting sanctions on luxury imports, Kempinski withdrew. Rumors about the hotel's structural integrity and a 2014 building collapse in Pyongyang, which killed around 92 families, further deterred investors.

By 2017, 30 years after construction began, the hotel remained unopened. In 2018, the building's top lit up with the North Korean flag, and later the entire front face displayed images and propaganda. Orascom financed this giant light display with more than 100,000 LEDs. Despite new signage in 2019, the hotel remains closed, listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's largest unoccupied building.

The cost of the Ryugyong Hotel, approximately $750 million, might seem modest compared to skyscrapers like London's Shard or Dubai's Burj Khalifa, each costing around $1.5 billion. However, most North Koreans live in poverty, earning about $99 a month. The government's spending priorities, focused on military and ostentatious infrastructure, come at the expense of its citizens' well-being.

If the Ryugyong were ever to open, a stay in this unwelcoming country would be an eerie experience. The existing hotels in Pyongyang feature outdated decor, vast and mostly vacant dining rooms, dark hallways, and frequent power cuts. Most strangely, they have enigma machines built into the bedside tables. Despite its potential, the Ryugyong Hotel remains a colossal symbol of North Korea's ambition and failure.