AN ABANDONED hotel that's been under construction since 1987 could soon have a new lease on life. Dominating the Pyongyang skyline, the empty £1.6 billion Ryugyong Hotel is set to be turned into a mega casino.
Dictator Kim Jong-un is now looking for foreign cash to finish the project dubbed the "Hotel of Doom", 37 years since the construction began. The North Korean government will offer the rights to open a casino in the skyscraper in the capital Pyongyang to a firm that can stump up the cash. The 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel is 1,080 feet and is the tallest building in North Korea and the most iconic structure in Pyongyang’s skyline.
The empty hotel was supposed to open in 1992, however the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the steady stream of aid from Moscow, and the North Korean economy entered a period of crisis that culminated in the 1994-1998 famine. External construction was completed in 2011 and the Ryugyong was supposed to open partially in 2013, but those plans fell through. Though it remains vacant, LEDs have been installed on one side of the building’s facade, converting it into one of the world’s largest displays.
Although it reached its full architectural height, the interior of the pyramid-shaped structure was never completed. It was designed to house at least 3,000 rooms, but the bare concrete skeleton remained windowless and empty for another 16 years. Battered by the elements for nearly two decades, it is believed that the building was weakened, while .