- [Narrator] Jutting out
of a cold, dank city fog, a massive triangular monolith
erupts from the skyline. The city of boxy, concrete
apartment blocks below can't match up to the sheer size of this bizarrely-shaped building which reaches 1,083 feet into the sky. Despite it's foreboding appearance, it's actually a hotel
that's a little taller than France's Eiffel Tower or
New York's Chrysler Building with 3.9 million square
feet of usable floor space and 3,000 rooms, it's big enough to rival some of the largest hotels in the world. It was even designed to include
casinos and night clubs. So, you think it'd be bustling with life but despite it's shiny facade, this hotel has never
welcome a single guest and has actually laid
empty for almost 30 years. With all that information,
can you guess where this incredibly creepy hotel is? Well, brace yourself because I promise you're not going to believe
what I'm about to tell you. (dramatic music) So did you guess some place in America, maybe a forgotten city
in Russia, perhaps China. That would make sense being
the superpowers that they are but no, this hotel is actually in one of the most repressive
countries on Earth, North Korea. Yep, this is the Ryugyong Hotel found in the country's
capital of Pyongyang. For those who don't know North Korea officially known as the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK is ruled by
the socialist dictatorship of the Kim family. Since 1948, three generations
of the Kim bloodline have ruled the country
with absolute authority which it's military first policies and oppressive regime
making it many enemies around the world. For these reasons North
Korea doesn't have the best trading or tourism relationships
with other countries, so they only receive about
300,000 foreign visitors a year. It may sound like a lot but compared to South Korea's 17.5 million, it's hardly a drop in the ocean. So, why would they ever
need a 3,000 room hotel? Well, to understand that we
need to hop in our time machine and rewind all the way back to 1986. However, this time machine
relies on the YouTube currency of likes and subscribes,
so if you haven't already, be sure to hit those buttons down below. All done, great. Now let's get our time travel on. (thunder rumbles) Here we are 1986 when the
Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was still raging and this extended over to Korea. The North backed the Soviets
but the South backed the U.S., making them less than friendly neighbors. But this war was fought
with perceived strength rather than battles and South Korea wasn't afraid to show off. In 1986, a South Korean
firm backed the construction of this Stamford Hotel in Singapore, the tallest hotel in
the world at the time. The South was also getting ready to host the 1988 Olympics which was a huge democratic middle
finger to North Korea. But instead of getting
mad, North Korea decided to get even. They organized the 1989 World
Festival of Youth and Students which was a kind of socialist
version of the Olympics. To accommodate the 22,000 participants, Pyongyang's airport was extended. They built a brand new
150,000 seat stadium and began construction of the
3,000 room Ryogyong Hotel. At 105 stories high, it'd steal the title of tallest hotel away from the South and put North Korea on the map. Not only that but there
are only 21 buildings in the world today boasting
more than 100 floors. So, this was a serious show
of strength for the time. It was a big task though
because North Korea didn't have access to a lot of advanced construction
materials such as steel. So, they'd have to make do
with what they had plenty of, concrete but without
enough steel reinforcement, concrete isn't structurally sound enough to make massive sky scrapers
which is why it was designed as a set of three wings
each inclined by 75 degrees that rose from a wide
base to a tapered top. They converge at the top 15 floors which would house world class restaurants, one of which would revolve along with several observation decks. If all went well, this
was going to be the jewel in North Korea's architectural crown. But that would turn out
to be one really big if. Construction began in 1987 but when the festival
rolled around in 1989, the hotel was nowhere near finished. They claimed engineering
issues had set the project back but that it would open in 1992 to celebrate the supreme leader, Kim Il-Sung's 80th birthday instead. However, in 1991 the
Soviet Union collapsed and by 1992, North Korea's
economy had tanked. The project was halted
due to lack of funds leaving an unfinished,
ugly concrete pyramid haunting Pyongyang's skyline. Not exactly the birthday gift
Kim Il-Sung was hoping for. To make matters worse, Japanese papers revealed that the building
had cost North Korea a staggering $750 million to build. At the time, this was a whopping
two percent of their GDP. Man, everything that could
go wrong had gone wrong. It was as if the project was cursed and like any good curse,
it was going to last for quite awhile. For 16 years the uncompleted
structure remained with no windows, fixtures or fittings. Even the rusty old construction cranes stuck at it's peak became
too corroded to use. They could have demolished the structure but that would have shown
the rest of the world that they didn't have
the finances or power to finish what they'd started. So, with demolition off the table, they had no choice but to leave the newly nicknamed Hotel of Doom alone. But the government was so embarrassed by the unfinished landmark,
that there were reports of officials airbrushing it
out of the skyline in photos. It wasn't completely abandoned though, large celebrations saw the structure used as some impressive firework displays. But still, if you're
going to spend two percent of your country's entire GDP on something, do you really want it to be
a glorified Roman candle? But then in 2008 under
the reign of Kim Jong-Il, construction started again. The North Korean government
had made an investment deal with the Egyptian company Orascom who were also paid to provide the country with a 3G network. They laughed in the
face of the curse claims and struck a deal worth $400 million, $180 million of which would go
towards finishing the hotel. And let's be fair, there's no one better at building pyramids than the Egyptians. However, back in the
1990's, a visiting member of the European Chamber of Commerce who'd been granted access
to the construction site claimed it was in an irreparable state. The masonry was crumbling, the
elevator shafts were crooked and the construction materials used were substandard at best. Nevertheless, the brand new opening date of the Ryugyong was announced for 2012, just in time to mark the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-Sung's eternal reign. It looked like the curse
was finally lifting. By 2011, the exterior
was finally complete. The last panels were
installed on the outside giving a super modern
and sleek appearance. But bizarrely the inside
was nowhere near finished. In 2012, the year of
it's supposed opening, a group of tourists were
granted a one time visit to the heart of the hotel. If they were expecting the
inside to match the outside, then they would have
been sorely disappointed. Vast expanses made of cold, hard concrete greeted them from every angle. Without furnishings,
fittings or furniture. It wasn't even hooked
up the main power grid. At least the view from
the top didn't disappoint. Even so, it was clear
it would take a miracle for the Ryugyong to be open
by the end of the year. In late 2012 German luxury
hotel group, Kempinski surprisingly announced that Ryugyong would partially open under
it's management in mid-2013. This would be a little late to celebrate that all important 100th anniversary but by this point, I bet
the North Korean government just wanted to get this thing finished. However, the curse struck
again a few months later when without warning Kempinski
pulled out of the deal. The brand new supreme Kim Jong-Un had been conducting a lot
of threatening nuclear tests which led to heavy sanctions
of luxury import items being placed on North Korea. For Kempinski, being
unable to get luxury items into their luxury hotel put a huge damper on this big deal. So, they quickly and quietly walked away. There were also rumors that Kempinski didn't trust the hotel's
structural integrity which would turn out
to be with good reason. In 2014, a 23-floor apartment in Pyongyong suddenly collapsed with around 92 families believed to have tragically
perished in the accident. The state media reported
that construction had (clears throat) not been done properly. Not exactly what anyone
looking to invest in a hotel in the area would want to hear. So, with Kim's nuclear maneuver and Pyongyang's construction crisis scaring away the foreign investors. The hotel remained untouched
for a further three years. By 2017, 30 years after
construction first started on this economy-breaking hotel, it still wasn't open. A brief flurry of
activity was seen in 2016, with several rooms at the very top spotted with lights on but the
hotel of doom remained shut. Many doubted it would
ever open it's doors, while others wondered if it
was secretly being converted into something else like an evil lair or maybe a huge indoor waterpark. Well, whatever they
thought, it's still closed. But then one night in 2018, the very top of the hotel suddenly burst into color. Like a bright red beacon in the darkness, the North Korean flag was beaming from the hotel's pyramid top. A few months later and
the entire front face of the Ryugyong also start
to light up at night, with a variety of images
and short, repeating videos. This soon became a huge,
beaming propaganda machine in the evenings. Displaying a looping four minute program with a variety of political slogans while the cone at the
top projected a huge, North Korean flag. Apparently, it still
lights up every evening between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
but out in the dark like that, it kind of resembles the
ever watchful eye of Sauron, as if North Korea wasn't
like Mordor enough already. I wouldn't believe surprised
if there were a couple of hobbits nearby asking for directions to the nearest volcano. But hang on, back up, where exactly did this giant
light display come from? It turns out that a huge light wall made up of more than 100,000 LED's have been covertly installed
and financed by Orascom. Man, these guys really know
how to make a dank pyramid. Now you might wondering
why on two occasions has Orascom offered to help build a hotel when their deal was mainly
for 3G network coverage? Well, if you take a close
look at the Ryugyong, it turns out the top of
the hotel has some sort of signal tower which I'm willing to guess belongs to Orascom. While some elements of the
deal were kept private, they did reveal that they'd
invested even more money into the hotel which
will apparently be repaid when it becomes operational. Although the when part of
that poses a bit of a problem because the government
hasn't put an opening day for the hotel in their calendars. In 2019 a new sign was
optimistically posted above the main entrance but since then, the doors have remained firmly shut. So, instead of stealing the crown of the world's tallest
hotel from South Korea as it was intended to all those years ago, it's now listed as the world's
largest unoccupied building in the Guinness World Records or should that be Kim Jong Unoccupied? I'll see myself out for that one. Now maybe I'm missing something here but wouldn't covering a
hotel in lights so bright that they can be seen across the city be really distracting to any future guests staying in those rooms? Also, wouldn't the money they
spent on the fancy light wall had been better spent, I don't know, completing the inside of the building? With all that being said,
it really doesn't seem like the government has
any plans to open this as a functioning hotel,
despite the sign over the door. Maybe they realized the
interior decoration costs would be way too expensive, especially considering how
few visitors the country actually gets on a yearly basis and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, if it isn't going to open it's doors in the near future, I can
think of a few better things it can be used for other than propaganda. I mean, I don't know about you
but imagine watching a movie on this thing or playing
a few games of Mario Kart on the 105 story bad boy. Have you got any other idea
what it could be used for? Let me know down in the comments. Now despite the jokes, there's
actually a dark under current we haven't explored of the Ryugyong yet. It's price tag. Now that $750 million figure
may not seem like much considering sky scrapers
like London's Shard or Dubai's Burj Khalifa
cost around $1.5 billion to build each. But the thing is, most
citizens of North Korea live in abject poverty. Recent reports suggest that
citizens of this harsh regime earn just four percent of the
average North Korean's income. That's a little over $99 a month. Even though the country's
economic growth rate is improving, experts believe that the average North
Korean's income is dwindling. This is because the rulers
of the hermit kingdom are more focused on
spending money on things such as military, nuclear weaponry and weirdly ostentatious infrastructure. This boosts their perceived
power and dominance to the outside world at
the cost of their people. I mean, the U.S. turned around and claimed it wanted to spend two percent
of it's GDP on a hotel, there'd be outrage. Now granted America's GDP
is significantly higher than North Korea's at
approximately $21 trillion but two percent is $420 billion, for that they could build
the One World Center 1,335 times over. They could probably
turn all of Central Park into one huge skyscraper. I mean, it would certainly send a message to the rest of the world but I don't think the citizens of the U.S. would be too happy about it, especially if it remained
totally empty afterwards. What a waste of money and space. Okay, that aside if you were
ever to visit North Korea what would a hotel stay in
the least welcoming country in the world actually look like? Well, there are about
eight functioning hotels in Pyongyang and they're
all quite eerily similar. The decor is reminiscent
of the 1950's and 60's. The dining rooms are
huge and mostly vacant. The stairways and hallways are dark. Power cuts are frequent. They hardly sound inviting. But the strangest thing by far is the little enigma machines
built into the bedside tables. Maybe they're part of the
phone system or a radio. What do you think they are? I'll take your best guess
because I don't think I'll ever be brave enough
to visit and find out. (upbeat music) So, do you think the
Ryugyong Hotel will ever open or have you ever actually
been to North Korea and seen it with your own eyes? Let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
