This was published 7 years ago
North Korea's unfinished hotel: Lights on in Ryugyong Hotel fuel rumours of reopening
The unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang.Credit: iStock
Lights on inside North Korea's unfinished Ryugyong Hotel, the largest in the world, are fuelling rumours the skyscraper is being revived.
Construction of the 105-storey, 3000-room tower in Pyongyang began in 1987 and it was set to open in 1989. In 1992, owing to the economic crisis in North Korea, construction came to a complete halt.
Over the years, the regime has tried on several occasions to revive the project. In 2008, windows were added. In 2011, a telecommunications mast was added.
Statues of late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, at Mansu Hill near the105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.Credit: AP
Earlier this month, Egyptian development company Orascom was recently flown in to discuss the future of the so-called "hotel of doom", reported NK News.
Orascom is the Egyptian majority shareholder of North Korea's Koryolink cellphone network.
According to NK News, a local source said: "Apparently [he's there] for a visit to the Ryugyong to see about working on that again."
At least three rooms were visibly lit at the top of the hotel during a night in October, NH News said.
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