The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,621 The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas -- even though the North forbids
The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas -- even though the North forbids
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,622 its citizens to own mobile phones -- and put up an artist's impression of what it will look like.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,623 An official with the group said its Orascom Telecom subsidiary
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,625 The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,626 arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,627 A creaky building crane has for years sat unused at the top of the
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,628 3,000-room hotel in a city where tourists are only occasionally allowed to visit.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,629 "It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence,"
"It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence,"
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,630 said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,631 The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics
The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,632 and show off to the world the success of its rapidly developing economy.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,633 A concrete shell built by North Korea's Paektu Mountain Architects & Engineers emerged over the next few years.
A concrete shell built by North Korea's Paektu Mountain Architects & Engineers emerged over the next few years.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,634 A proud North Korea put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and boasted about the structure in official media.
A proud North Korea put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and boasted about the structure in official media.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,635 According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded,
According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded,
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,636 while his son and current leader Kim Jong-il was a driving force in its construction.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,638 The North's main benefactor the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished.
The North's main benefactor the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,639 For a time, the North airbrushed images of the Ryugyong Hotel from photographs.
The Dork Lord Whipping Boy Jul 18, 2008 #15,640 As the North's economy took a deeper turn for the worse in the 1990s the empty shell became