The tallest building in North Korea could soon be home to a casino. According to a report by Radio Free Asia, authorities have promised to grant the rights to operate a casino to any company that comes in and completes all interior work on the long-stalled Ryugyong Hotel development, located in the capital city of Pyongyang.
Standing at 105 stories or 330 meters tall, construction on Ryugyong Hotel first began in 1987 with an original opening date of 1992, however work on the hotel stalled after the collapse of the Soviet Union saw funding to North Korea slow.
External construction was eventually completed in 2011 but internal work remains incomplete. Instead, Ryugyong Hotel has become renowned for the extensive LED lighting on the exteriors that regularly televise government propaganda.
That could change, however, with Radio Free Asia citing a local resident with knowledge of the matter as stating, “A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed. The plan is to try to attract foreign investment.
“The authority to determine the location of the casino to be installed at the hotel and the right to operate the casino will be granted to a foreign entrepreneur who invests in the cost of internal construction.
“This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the [foreigner-only] Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
North Korea is currently home to two casinos, with the other being located at the Bipa Hotel in the Rason Special Economic Zone, located to the northeast near the border with China and Russia.
It is said that a review of the Ryugyong Hotel casino plan was undertaken after North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered the government take practical measures to promote tourism.
“When the casino is built at the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang and the hotel’s accommodations, restaurants, swimming pool, and billiards room are finally completed … tourism in Pyongyang is expected to be revitalized,” the resident is quoted as saying. “This is why overseas investment is desperately needed.”
