Arts & Life

Photos: Inside And Around North Korea's Still-Unfinished 'Hotel Of Doom'

By Mark Memmott

Published September 27, 2012 at 8:38 AM CDT

1 of 3 — The Ryugyong Hotel, from the front.

The Ryugyong Hotel, from the front.

2 of 3 — Koryo Tours says this is where the hotel's main dining room will be.

Koryo Tours says this is where the hotel's main dining room will be.

3 of 3 — In 2011, The Associated Press released this image of the hotel rising above the smog covering Pyongyang.

In 2011, The Associated Press released this image of the hotel rising above the smog covering Pyongyang.

Construction of the Ryugyong hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, began in 1987 — but was halted for 16 years by a lack of funds. The still-unfinished 105-story skyscraper has become something of a symbol of that nation's "thwarted ambitions," as the BBC says.

But thanks to Koryo Tours, which runs trips to the communist state, we do have some new photos of the ominous-looking "Hotel of Doom." The company has posted some shots on Facebook and has shared them with the Associated Press. Koryo tells the BBC that the hotel may finally be finished in two or three years. Unless the money runs out again, of course.

(H/T to NPR's Scott Neuman.)