DPRK Forum

One of the strangest things I notice about North Korea is the architecture. Looking at the pictures of Pyongyang, the showcase capital, are the huge buildings, amusement parks, pools and other things that present a nice face but hides emptiness. One of the most glaring skyscrapers is without a doubt is the Ryugyong Hotel (also here). With the economy at a standstill, floods, famines and general mismanagement, it makes me wonder why these gigantic structures are built in a city where only the privileged are designated to live.

In any case, I did some research on why it was unfinished, and ran into several articles about it along with some other places that fell into disuse and neglect. Obviously, money is one of the main issues, and it has been speculated North Korea was trying to get outside investors to help boost its sagging economy. Ironic considering it lets nobody in the country, but it seems North Korea is opening the economy more lately. I do not know if it is a little too late for that, but we shall see as billions of dollars gets poured in from China and South Korea to help get the country in line for the hopeful soft landing and eventual reunification (good luck with that one!):

The Ryugyong Hotel is, in my opinion, the single most unsettling structure ever erected by the hand of man. It’s 1,082 feet tall, has 105 floors, and encloses 3.9 million square feet of floor space.

It is a very huge structure, and looking at it, sticks out like a sore thumb. Apparently, guides do not know where it is when asked. That is like saying they cannot find their own butt with two hands. That is very odd indeed.

And it is completely empty. It doesn’t even have windows.

From the picture, it looks in terrible shape, but so are a lot of other buildings. When looking at the buildings from afar from the roadside (and I am sure the guides do not allow visitors to stop and look at the buildings in disrepair), they look to be held together by bits of glue and bubble gum. On the other hand, other places are in good repair, but that may be because it has to do with showing the best possible pictures to the visitor or a place of worship to Kim Il Sung.

The costs of the project were staggering too:

The North Korean government began construction of the building in 1987 at an estimated cost of $750 million, or 2% of the country’s GDP. For comparison, 2% of the US GDP would be about $220 billion.

That is a lot of money, and North Korea did have hopes for outside investors to cooperate in the project and letting them do stuff like add casinos, nightclubs and other fun things normal North Koreans can only dream about. After all, they are doing their best to find food for Pete’s sake. Also, it amazes me how North Korea expected to have outsiders to invest in a place that is guaranteed to have no returns on that investment when there is nobody to visit and spend money in the first place. Sure, some tourists can go there and spend a week for the Mass Games and whatnot, but that still does not justify the huge costs and a massive building. Hell, even the completed buildings have hardly any guests to them. One journalist said there were more hotel personnel than guests (Welcome to North Korea).

Work was halted in 1992, and nobody knows exactly why. Some say that it was for financial reasons; the DPRK economy was a disaster even then, and 1992 was about the time that widespread famine and electricity shortages began to kick in. Others say that the building isn’t structurally sound due to the use of poor-quality concrete, and that it literally cannot be completed. At one point it was rumored that the North Korean government was trying to raise foreign capital to pay for major structural renovations, so the truth might lie somewhere in between.

I am going to venture a guess and say it is a combination of all of them. Looking at it now, it would take untold hundreds of millions of dollars to repair the thing. Even if by some miracle and the building was to be finished, I have to agree:

… Even today, after the establishment of the K?mgang-san tourist region, the DPRK only sees about 130,000 tourists per year. Every single one of them could book a week-long stay in the Ryugyong and the hotel would still be significantly under capacity.

I’m no expert on North Korean psychology, but it seems to me that there’s only one plausible answer: Building the Ryugyong was a matter of national pride. The North Korean government put the Ryugyong on city maps before ground was even broken; they even put it on a stamp. The Ryugyong was to be a monument to the North Korean virtue of juche, or self-reliance.

Yes, the only thing this and other buildings, monuments and grand structures are for the propaganda value and nothing more. Despite the hardships, lack of money, and general despair of the population, North Korea wants so badly to show itself as paradise, and Pyongyang is as close to paradise as it can get. That is the creepiest thing of all about it. All Juche accomplished are slogans, pictures of happiness and a city of things that are basically a fraud. It is like a multi-billion dollar film set. It is very, very unreal.

One of the things I wonder about if someday if North Korea should dissolve if it would ever be completed. I have my doubts mainly because of the reminder the hotel may bring, but it could be an interesting piece of history. Yes, I am speculating at this point, but what I am trying to get at is, just how much time, effort and billions if not trillions to get North Korea back on its feet again. Juche has failed its people, Kim Jong Il is a failure, and the bottom line is, the Ryugyong Hotel is a testament to that failure. Ironically, it tells the story of North Korea in a nutshell:

“I claim to be a very powerful and rich structure, but in reality I am weak, poor and unable to handle the occupants.”