Friday, September 28, 2012

North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel - WSJ.com

Global cities (formerly New York City, London, Tokyo, etc., but now including the likes of Seoul, Los Angeles, Osaka, Mumbai, etc.) are often in search of an iconic structure to symbolize the city. New York City, for example, has the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, while Los Angeles has the Hollywood sign and Sydney has the Opera House. Seoul has, well, Namdaemun or N-Tower, I guess. 

Pyongyang may be years off from ever being a global city, but the Ryugyong Hotel seems to becoming an eerie icon unto itself. I must admit it does look rather cool, and if it is structurally sound (and if an Egyptian telecom company can't make a 100-story building structurally sound, who can?) it might be an interesting place to visit, if not stay. 

Anyhoo, the Wall Street Journal is featuring the recently renovated hotel in the photo essay below. Enjoy.



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