Ryugyong Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Ryugyong Hotel (sometimes anglicized as Ryu-Gyong Hotel or Yu-Kyung Hotel) is a 105-story
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...

 skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 under construction in Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

. Its name ("capital of willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

s") is also one of the historic names for Pyongyang. The building is also known as the 105 Building, a reference to its number of floors. Construction began in 1987 with planned completion in 1989. However, after several delays, construction was eventually halted in 1992; the fall of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

 had resulted in widespread economic disruptions in North Korea and shortages of raw materials.

The building stood topped out
Topping out
In building construction, topping out is a ceremony held when the last beam is placed at the top of a building. The term may also refer to the overall completion of the building's structure, or an intermediate point, such as when the roof is dried in...

 but without windows or interior fittings for the next sixteen years. Construction resumed in April 2008 under the supervision of the Orascom Group
Orascom Group
The Orascom Group is an Egyptian conglomerate, established in 1976. The success of ventures within the Orascom Group as well as the other sectors of the company led to the management decision in 1997 to split Orascom into separate operating companies: Orascom Telecom Holding , Orascom Construction...

 of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, which has invested heavily in the North Korean mobile telephony
Mobile telephony
Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations , whereas satellite phones connect to orbiting satellites...

 and construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 industries. The company completed exterior work on the building in 2011, and interior work on the building's 360000 square metres (3,875,007.8 sq ft) of floor space will continue until 2012 or later. Orascom has stated that the building will contain restaurants, hotel accommodation, apartments, and business facilities.

The building rises to a height of 330 metres (1,082.7 ft), making it the most prominent feature of Pyongyang's skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...

 and by far the largest structure in North Korea. Construction of the Ryugyong was intended to be completed in time for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students
13th World Festival of Youth and Students
The 13th World Festival of Youth and Students was held from 1–8 July 1989 for 8 days, in Pyongyang, the capital of the North Korea. The World Federation of Democratic Youth had decided to celebrate its 13th festival there....

 in June 1989; had this been achieved, it would have held the title of world's tallest hotel. The unfinished building was not surpassed in height by any new hotel until the 2009 completion of the spire atop the Rose Tower in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

. The Ryugyong Hotel is currently the world's 40th tallest building (alongside the China World Trade Center Tower III) in terms of total height and has the 4th highest number of floors.

Background

The plan for a large hotel was reportedly a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 response to the completion of the world's tallest hotel, the Westin Stamford Hotel
Swissôtel The Stamford
Swissôtel The Stamford , is a luxury hotel in Singapore managed by Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts. Designed by architect I.M. Pei, Swissôtel The Stamford, at a height of is one of Southeast Asia’s tallest hotels...

 in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, in 1986 by the South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n company SsangYong Group
SsangYong Group
SsangYong Group is a South Korean based Chaebol or conglomerate. SsangYong, literally translated, means "Double Dragon". It was largely broken up by the East Asian financial crisis in 1997...

. North Korean leadership envisioned the project as a channel for Western investors to step into the marketplace. A firm, the Ryugyong Hotel Investment and Management Co., was established to attract a hoped-for US$230 million in foreign investment. A representative for the North Korean government promised relaxed oversight, saying, "The foreign investors can even operate casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

s, nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

s or Japanese lounges if they want to." North Korean construction firm Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers (also known as Baekdu Mountain Architects and Engineers) began construction on a pyramid-shaped hotel in 1987.

Building deadlock

The hotel was scheduled to open in June 1989 for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students
13th World Festival of Youth and Students
The 13th World Festival of Youth and Students was held from 1–8 July 1989 for 8 days, in Pyongyang, the capital of the North Korea. The World Federation of Democratic Youth had decided to celebrate its 13th festival there....

, but problems with building methods and materials delayed completion. Had it opened on schedule, it would have surpassed the Westin Stamford Hotel to become the world's tallest hotel, and been ranked the seventh-tallest building in the world.

In 1992, after the building had reached its full architectural height, work was halted due to a lack of funds amid electricity and food shortages in North Korea. Japanese newspapers estimated the cost of construction was US$750 million, consuming 2 percent of North Korea’s GDP. For over a decade, the unfinished building sat vacant and without windows, fixtures, or fittings, appearing as a massive concrete shell. A rusting construction crane at the top, which the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 called "a reminder of the totalitarian state's thwarted ambition", became a permanent fixture. In the late 1990s, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea
European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea , formed in 1986, is a trade organization representing the interests of the European Union business community in Korea....

 inspected the building and concluded that the structure was irreparable. Questions have been raised regarding the quality of the building's concrete and the alignment of its elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...

 shafts, which some sources say are "crooked".

In a 2006 article, ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 questioned whether North Korea had sufficient raw materials or energy for such a massive project. A North Korean government official told the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

in 2008 that construction was not completed "because [North Korea] ran out of money".

Even though the Ryugyong dominates the Pyongyang skyline, official information regarding the hotel and its status have proven difficult to obtain. Though mocked-up images of the completed hotel had once appeared on North Korean stamps, the North Korean government denied the building's existence for many years. The government manipulated
Photo manipulation
Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...

 official photographs in order to remove the structure, and excluded it from printed maps of Pyongyang. The alleged problems associated with the hotel led some media sources to dub it "The Worst Building in the World", "Hotel of Doom" and "Phantom Hotel".

Construction resumes

In April 2008, after 16 years of inactivity, work on the building was restarted by the Egyptian company Orascom Group
Orascom Group
The Orascom Group is an Egyptian conglomerate, established in 1976. The success of ventures within the Orascom Group as well as the other sectors of the company led to the management decision in 1997 to split Orascom into separate operating companies: Orascom Telecom Holding , Orascom Construction...

. Orascom, which has entered into a US$ 400 million deal with the North Korean government to build and run a 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

 mobile phone network, has denied that their telecommunications deal was directly related to the Ryugyong Hotel work.

It is unclear to what extent Orascom plans to complete the building. In 2008, Orascom's resident project manager stated that, at a minimum, their goal was to make the facade more attractive. In 2009, Orascom's chief operating officer Khaled Bichara
Khaled Bichara
Khaled Bichara is the current Group President and Chief Operating Officer of VimpelCom Ltd., as well as Group Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding....

 noted that they "had not had too many problems" resolving the reported structural issues of the building, that interior work will be performed, and that a revolving restaurant will be located at the top of the building.

In July 2011, it was reported that the exterior work is complete. Features that Orascom has installed include exterior glass panels and telecommunications antennas.

It is unclear when the building will open. In 2008, North Korean officials stated that the hotel would be completed by 2012, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the birth of "Eternal President" Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...

. According to Orascom, interior work is to be conducted after the completion of exterior work, and the building will not be ready until 2012 or beyond.

Architecture

The Ryugyong Hotel consists of three wings, each measuring 100 metres (328.1 ft) long, 18 metres (59.1 ft) wide, and sloped at a 75-degree angle, which converge at a common point to form a pinnacle. The building is topped by a truncated cone
Cone (geometry)
A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...

 40 metres (131.2 ft) wide, consisting of eight floors that are intended to rotate, topped by a further six static floors. The structure was originally intended to house five revolving restaurant
Revolving restaurant
A revolving restaurant is a usually tower restaurant eating space designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on the revolving floor. The revolving rate varies between one and three times...

s, and either 3,000 or 7,665 guest rooms, according to different sources. According to BBC quoting Orascom's Mr. Bichra in 2009, the Ryugyong will not be just a hotel, but rather a mixed-use development
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...

, including "revolving restaurant" facilities along with "a mixture of hotel accommodation, apartments and business facilities".

See also

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