In 1987, North Korea began building the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang. The name translates to “capital of willows,” a nod to one of the city’s old poetic titles. Plans called for it to be a 1,000-foot-tall pyramid-shaped skyscraper with 3,000 rooms, a bowling alley, a nightclub, and five revolving restaurants.

It was due to open in 1989.

But that didn’t happen.

Cut to 2025, and the building still hasn’t been completed. It has since picked up several ominous nicknames like the ‘Hotel of Doom’, the ‘Phantom Hotel’, and the ‘Phantom Pyramid’.

In 2008, Esquire magazine described it as:

Now, decades later, there are signs that it may still open.

Why has it taken so long? And why does a country that isn’t famed for it’s openness to foreign tourists need such a huge hotel? Some background is needed.

The Cold War, Olympic rivalry, and tall-hotel one-upmanship

During the grim and dismal days of the Cold War, South Korea was backed by the United States, and North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union.

In 1987, South Korea was rapidly developing into a capitalist democracy and was gearing up to host the 1988 Summer Olympics. The South Korean government were loosening their grip and even allowed a free election. The country was opening up to the outside world, and a building boom had begun, especially in the capital, Seoul.

The two countries were understandably incredibly competitive. Earlier that decade, their one-upmanship had even extended to who had the highest flagpole at the border.

In addition to hosting the Olympics, a South Korean firm had just finished constructing the Westin Stamford in Singapore in 1986. At the time, it was the tallest hotel in the world.

North Korea came up with two ways to compete with its neighbour. The first was to host the “The World Festival of Youth and Students” — a sort of socialist version of the Olympics that had been going on, at somewhat random intervals, since 1947.

In preparation for their alternative Olympics, the North Korean government is estimated to have spent $4 billion on new roads, infrastructure, and a stadium.

The second major plan was the announcement of the construction of what was to be the world’s tallest hotel — the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel. The plan was for it to open in time for the festival.

Work began, but it soon became apparent that the 1989 target was far too ambitious, and plans were changed. Instead, the hotel was to open in 1992, to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kim Il-Sung.

Unfortunately, although the building had achieved its full 1080-foot height by 1992, problems with building materials and methods caused numerous delays. By this point, the hotel’s construction had cost around $750 million, the equivalent of 2% of North Korea’s GDP.

The building’s structure may have seen progress, but it was still, essentially, a windowless shell. And then… work stopped entirely for 16 years.

The USSR collapses, North Korea runs out of money, and the huge building was quietly erased

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and with it went North Korea’s primary trading partner and giver of funds and aid. Until then, the economies of North and South Korea were roughly the same size. However, after the dissolution of the USSR, the North had a major economic crisis.

From 1992 to 2008, the Ryugyong Hotel stood, half finished with a rusting crane on top, dominating Pyongyang’s skyline.

The colossal shell of the building was a massive embarrassment to the North Korean government. So they simply tried to ignore that it was there. In fact, they even went so far as to manipulate photos and erase the 105-story building from images. It was excluded from official maps.

The structure started to decay due to the elements, and there was speculation that it would eventually have to be demolished. It was during this period that the less-than-flattering moniker ‘Hotel of Doom’ began. It seemed unlikely it would ever be finished.

A comeback? Enter the Egyptians

In 2008, Egyptian construction company Orascom signed a $400 million deal to install a 3G network in North Korea. As part of the deal, they would take on the Ryugyong’s exterior.

Aided by Egyptian engineers, the rusty crane was removed, and glass and metal panels were added. The exterior work was completed in 2011.

An Orascom engineer noted that they hadn’t had too many problems with the interior structure. This sparked a bit of optimism, leading officials to announce that the hotel would finally be finished in 2012, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il-Sung.

Predictably, there were delays, and it was soon clear the deadline would be missed. However, in November 2012, the Kempinski chain announced that it would be managing the Ryugyong Hotel and planned to partially open it in mid-2013. Things were looking up.

But then, in March 2013, the Kempinski group said plans to open the hotel weren’t going to happen. They claimed only initial discussions had occurred, and the market wasn’t ideal.

While this may be true, commentators noted that in February 2013, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test and consequently raised global tensions considerably.

Once again, things went quiet.

Will the Ryugyong Hotel ever open? Amazingly, there are signs that it may yet happen

At the end of 2016, a report emerged that a representative from the Egyptian firm Orascom had visited North Korea. In 2017 and 2018, people also observed that work was underway at the site, and access roads were being constructed.

In July 2018, an LED screen that had been installed on the entire side of the building began displaying animations and movie scenes. That same month, a sign was erected that simply read: “The Ryugyong Hotel” in Korean and English.

Activity continues to be reported. Simon Cockerell, the general manager at Koryo Group — a Beijing-based company that specialises in North Korean tours — has actually been inside. When asked on CNN about the likely opening of the Ryugyong Hotel, he said:

“It’s very hard to say, because since the building was clad in glass, you can’t see inside. No doubt something’s going on. It’s a very large building. It’s not inconceivable that some part of it may open before the whole of it could open. If it was my building, I’d focus on the top and the bottom.”

In 2024, it was reported that the North Korean government was seeking foreign investors to open a casino in the hotel, as part of a deal to finally complete the interior. At the time of writing (May 2025), no one has come forward. But they might…

Even if it does open, it will no longer break any records

If the ‘Hotel of Doom’ does eventually open, it will no longer be such a ground-breaker. For a start, it would not be the world’s tallest hotel - that distinction now belongs to the 1,170-foot-tall Gevora Hotel in Dubai.

It won’t even be the tallest building on the Korean Peninsula - the Lotte World Tower in Seoul is 800 feet taller.

In 2015, it even lost its status as the Guinness World Record holder for being the world’s tallest unoccupied building. That’s currently the 128-story Goldin Finance 117 tower in China. Although, at a guess, that was a record they would have been happy to lose.

I will likely update this article in five years to report that it may finally be on the verge of opening. How many people will want to go there is an entirely different question.