Pyongyang pretties up famed ‘pyramid’ hotel 30 years after construction started
Work on Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Hotel started in 1987 and would have been the world’s tallest hotel
While North Korea’s second launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile dominated headlines late last week, Pyongyang quietly unveiled renovations around the capital’s biggest landmark: a futuristic, pyramid-shaped 105-storey hotel, the world’s tallest unoccupied building.
After decades of embarrassing delays and rumours that the building may not even be structurally sound, could this be Kim Jong-un’s next pet project?
If nothing else, it at least has a new propaganda sign: “Rocket Power Nation”.
Walls set up to keep people out of a construction area around the gargantuan Ryugyong Hotel were pulled down as the North marked the anniversary of the Korean war armistice. Revealed were two broad new walkways leading to the building and the big red propaganda sign declaring that North Korea is a leading rocket power. That, of course, is Kim’s other pet project.
