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A traffic policeman stands in front of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2019.
A traffic policeman is dwarfed by the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Construction of the pyramid-shaped hotel, the capital city's most conspicuous landmark, began in 1987 but the work has not been completed and it has never hosted any guests. It is believed to be the tallest unfinished building in the world.

Dita Alangkara/AP

  • Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, is one of the tallest unoccupied buildings in the world.
  • Construction on the "Hotel of Doom" began in 1987 and has stopped and started several times.
  • One side of the 1,080-foot building has been outfitted with LED screens used for light shows.

At 1,080 feet, North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang is one of the tallest unoccupied buildings in the world.

The 105-story "Hotel of Doom," which is also North Korea's tallest building, has never hosted a single guest. Construction began almost 40 years ago, and it is not yet complete — the cost of finishing the building is estimated to be around 5% of the country's entire GDP.

Still, Ryugyong Hotel remains a subject of international fascination.

Here's the story behind the abandoned skyscraper that dominates the capital city's skyline.

Construction on the Ryugyong Hotel began in Pyongyang in 1987, but halted due to economic troubles in North Korea.
The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 1990.
A North Korean woman walks past the site of the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in the capital city of Pyongyang, Aug. 22, 1990. Work on the 3,000-room pyramidal building, begun almost a decade ago, is expected to be completed in 1992 because of financial problems.

Vincent Yu/AP

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, North Korea lost its main trading partner and source of aid, spurring an economic crisis.

The hotel reached its full height in 1992, but the inside was never completed.
A traffic policeman stands in front of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2019.
A traffic policeman is dwarfed by the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Construction of the pyramid-shaped hotel, the capital city's most conspicuous landmark, began in 1987 but the work has not been completed and it has never hosted any guests. It is believed to be the tallest unfinished building in the world.

Dita Alangkara/AP

The Ryugyong Hotel is 105 stories tall and is sometimes referred to as the 105 Building.

To this day, it has never hosted a single guest.
Ongoing construction of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2010.
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - APRIL 29: Construction of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel, Pyongan Province, Pyongyang, North Korea on April 29, 2010 in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Eric Lafforgue/Art In All Of Us/Corbis via Getty Images

Despite its aversion to foreign visitors, North Korea does have several functional hotels in Pyongyang. Until the Ryugyong Hotel is completed, the Yanggakdo International Hotel is the city's largest, and the Ryanggang Hotel is widely regarded as the fanciest.

Its pyramid shape dominates the Pyongyang skyline from miles away.
The Ryugyong Hotel seen from a road outside Pyongyang in 2011.
The 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is seen from a road outside Pyongyang, North Korea Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011.

Greg Baker/AP

Each of the building's three sections, which join together at the top, are 100 meters, or 328 feet long, Atlas Obscura reported.

At the very top of the building, an eight-story cone-shaped section was supposed to feature revolving restaurants.
The top of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2015.
The top of the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, the highest building under construction in North Korea, is seen in Pyongyang, North Korea early October 9, 2015. North Korea is getting ready to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea on October 10.

Damir Sagolj/Reuters

It remains empty, like the rest of the hotel.

More external work began on the hotel in 2008 with the installation of glass panels over its entire surface.
Construction on the Ryugyong Hotel in 2010.
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - APRIL 29: Construction of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel, Pyongan Province, Pyongyang, North Korea on April 29, 2010 in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Eric Lafforgue/Art In All Of Us/Corbis via Getty Images

An Egyptian contractor, the Orascom group, took over the project and revived construction in 2008, Reuters reported.

It would cost an estimated $2 billion to finally finish the Ryugyong Hotel, Reuters reported in 2008, citing South Korean media.
A crane on the roof of the Ryugyong Hotel.
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - APRIL 29: Construction of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel, Pyongan Province, Pyongyang, North Korea on April 29, 2010 in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Eric Lafforgue/Art In All Of Us/Corbis via Getty Images

North Korea's gross domestic product is around $40 billion, according to the CIA World Factbook's 2015 estimate. That makes the cost of finishing the building around 5% of the country's entire GDP.

In the meantime, North Korea has found other uses for the building.
Fireworks around the Ryugyong Hotel to celebrate May Day in 2009.
Fireworks are set off around the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel to celebrate the May Day anniversary near the Botong River in Pyongyang May 1, 2009 in this picture released by North Korea's KCNA news agency on May 2, 2009.

KCNA/Reuters

Pyongyang celebrated May Day in 2009 with a fireworks display framing the Ryugyong Hotel.

It serves as a dramatic backdrop for performances by art troupes.
Members of a Socialist Women's Union propaganda troupe perform in front of the Ryugyong Hotel in 2019.
Members of a Socialist Women's Union propaganda troupe perform a dance and music routine in front of the Ryugyong hotel in Pyongyang on March 9, 2019. - All non-working North Korean women are members of the Socialist Women's Union, whose propaganda troupes are a familiar fixture performing flag-waving and drum routines at intersections and landmarks around Pyongyang during the morning rush-hour period.

Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

The troupes' performances usually contain propaganda messages. North Korea sent an art troupe to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. 

It also provides a backdrop for propaganda messages made up of over 100,000 LED screens.
Designer Kim Yong Il stands next to his light show on the facade of the Ryugyong Hotel.
In this Dec. 20, 2018 photo, light designer Kim Yong Il smiles during an interview with the Associated Press as his creation, the light show displaying propaganda messages on the facade of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel, is seen in the background in Pyongyang, North Korea. For several hours each night, the building that doesn't have electricity inside becomes the backdrop of a massive light show in which more than 100,000 LEDs flash images of famous statues and monuments, bursts of fireworks, party symbols and political slogans.

Dita Alangkara/AP

In 2018, lighting designer Kim Yong Il created a light show comprised of political slogans and party symbols. It played on the building's surface for several hours every night.

In 2023, banners in front of the hotel marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
In 2023, signs in front of the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
In 2023, signs in front of the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

KIM WON JIN/AFP via Getty Images

North Korea celebrates the 1953 armistice agreement as a victory in the "Grand Fatherland Liberation War."

The building itself still lacks electricity, and there's no expected completion date, but there have been new signs of construction progress.
Statues of Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il at Mansu Hill near the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang.
North Koreans pay their respects before the statues of late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, at Mansu Hill near the pyramid shaped 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. At noon, North Koreans across the country stopped in their tracks to pay tribute to late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in honor of the first anniversary of his death.

Ng Han Guan/AP

Alek Sigley, an Australian student who was studying for his master's degree in Korean literature at Kim Il Sung University, posted on X about new signage above the main entrance of the hotel in June 2019.

A month later, Sigley was detained for a week and subsequently released after North Korean authorities accused him of committing "spying acts" against the state. He was later expelled from the country.

North Korean authorities are reportedly hoping to find a foreign investor to build a casino in the empty space.
A slot machine in Pyongyang, North Korea.
North Koreans play a slot machine in Pyongyang on April 12, 2012. Any earnings from the betting can only be used to buy goods in a neighboring shop. North Korea's five-day window to launch a rocket opened on April 12 with Asian countries on alert, as Washington told G8 world powers that the communist state was in flagrant violation of a UN ban.

PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images

Radio Free Asia reported in July 2024 that North Korean leadership is seeking a foreign investor to purchase gambling rights and operate a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel as part of a deal to finish the rest of its interior.

Authorities hope to replicate the success and profitability of the casino at Pyongyang's Yanggakdo International Hotel, which has proven popular with tourists, the outlet reported, citing an anonymous North Korean source.

It continues to live up to its nickname, "Hotel of Doom."
The Ryugyong Hotel rises above the city skyline, shrouded by a layer of mist.
The Ryugyong Hotel rises above the city skyline as it is shrouded by a layer of mist after a torrential rain in Pyongyang, Monday, July 22, 2013. The country is preparing to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

Wong Maye-E/AP

The hotel's actual name, "Ryugyong," comes from a historical name for Pyongyang meaning "capital of willows."

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North Korea's tallest building is an abandoned hotel that has never hosted a si…