North Korea’s super-size hotel is set to open, 23 years late

[Of course, because of this article, I’m now going to have this song in my head all day, starts at about 2:20. This—the song—is not a bad thing of course.]

North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel ranks among the world’s most remarkable — and mockable — buildings. It’s taller than New York’s Chrysler Building and wider at its base than an average city block. Constructed almost entirely of concrete, it looks like a rocket ship and casts a jagged shadow over Pyongyang’s gray vistas.

But the Ryugyong has never opened for business, which is why, for years, outsiders have viewed it as an emblem of North Korea’s broader failures. Work began in 1987 on a structure envisaged as a 105-story showcase of prosperity. It ended just four years later, when the money ran out. The building had reached its planned height but was left as a hulking pyramid with glassless windows. For years, a single crane remained perched at the top, a stranded reminder of grand plans gone bust.

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