That scary "hotel" in North Korea is actually being finished...

darkman2

That famous "hotel" in North Korea, one of the worlds tallest, that was a half built shell for 25 years is being finished (don't know who will stay in it considering foreigners are not exactly allowed free passage to the country).


So anyway It looked like this for donkeys years cause they ran out of dosh to finish it

http://www.roumazeilles.net/news/fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/ryugyong-hotel.jpg

Not very welcoming...and intimidating


Now it looks awesome and even more intimidating to the peasants! They started on it again last year. (surely the structure is unsafe!?)


http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum/wp-content/uploads/RIMG0049_resize_resize.JPG

http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum/wp-content/uploads/RIMG0010_resize_resize.JPG


Kim Jung Ills new gaff is way better then anything in Dublin:(

Svalbard

"The One ring to rule them all"

TheZohanS

North Korea isn't that bad, Western media paints a very one sided picture of it.

ronnie3585

TheZohan wrote: »

North Korea isn't that bad, Western media paints a very one sided picture of it.

Yes, the crazy side - their only side.

TheZohanS

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Yes, the crazy side - their only side.

What did you find crazy about North Korea when you visited it?

peasant

darkman2 wrote: »

Now it looks awesome and even more intimidating to the peasants!

You callling me a coward?

Blazer

TheZohan wrote: »

North Korea isn't that bad, Western media paints a very one sided picture of it.

trying living there...I'm sure you get a different picture of what it's like

ScumLord

That's a giant death ray if ever I saw one. Invade, invade immediately!

darkman2

Do all these pictures have to be smuggled out?

dlofnep

TheZohan wrote: »

North Korea isn't that bad, Western media paints a very one sided picture of it.

I watched an independant documentary on North Korea, and I think Western Media have it right with NK. Public executions, children starving. And instead of feeding the poor, they build this stupid hotel.

but sure - if you want to take up the unpopular stance for the sake of debate on AH, go for it

TheZohanS

Berkut wrote: »

trying living there...I'm sure you get a different picture of what it's like

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

FearDark

Im going to enjoy this one...

darkman2

TheZohan wrote: »

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

Yeah - in Pyongyang? If you were how many "gaurds" were keeping an eye on your movements? NK is not somewhere ordinary people would like to live IMO! Though I am aware they have a couple of special more open but small "economic zones" - the vast majority of the country and Pyongyang is under the rule of a lunatic dictator.

rossie1977

why would the structure be unsafe, a multiple ton tower crane has been sitting on the top for nearly 20 years without falling so that tells you the structure itself is sound

dlofnep

TheZohan wrote: »

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

Did you really?

Bragadin

TheZohan wrote: »

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

pics or it didn't happen

rossie1977

dlofnep wrote: »

I watched an independant documentary on North Korea, and I think Western Media have it right with NK. Public executions, children starving. And instead of feeding the poor, they build this stupid hotel.

and all the while western nations heap more and more economic sanctions on north korea

Davie_m

perhaps for the opening night they can invite all the world leaders and have alec baldwin as the host..

Bragadin

Heres how it works:

1, North korea threatens american interests, gets sanctioned untill it makes a deal.
2, North korea does a deal to get trade deals and relax some sanctioned in exchange for token descalating
3, Return to step 1

America, japan, south korea and north korea know this is the deal by now. North korea probably wouldn't be able to trade competitivly without this arrangement

Pygmalion

dlofnep wrote: »

children starving. And instead of feeding the poor, they build this stupid hotel

This stupid hotel could bring in quite a bit of money in the long term.
It's easy to condemn them for not spending the money on feeding the poor but if they just put all their money into feeding the poor the economy will never improve and they'll be stuck starving forever, it may not be very fair or nice, but it's what happens.

TheZohanS

darkman2 wrote: »

Yeah - in Pyongyang? If you were how many "gaurds" were keeping an eye on your movements? NK is not somewhere ordinary people would like to live IMO! Though I am aware they have a couple of special more open but small "economic zones" - the vast majority of the country and Pyongyang is under the rule of a lunatic dictator.

No, not Pyongyang, in Kaesong. All contractors have guides there.

darkman2

Pygmalion wrote: »

This stupid hotel could bring in quite a bit of money in the long term.
It's easy to condemn them for not spending the money on feeding the poor but if they just put all their money into feeding the poor the economy will never improve and they'll be stuck starving forever, it may not be very fair or nice, but it's what happens.

Or maybe if they just opened up their economy to the rest of the world they would be much better off.

Jackobyte

Little off the subject but you can't look at NK on google earth!!! Try it! Its just blank... The capital is marked but you can't see anymore than its gps location... No details!!!:eek:

Cookie_Monster

darkman2 wrote: »

http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum/wp-content/uploads/RIMG0049_resize_resize.JPG

http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum/wp-content/uploads/RIMG0010_resize_resize.JPG

It many be a crazy half starved country but that looks like quite a nice tidy city:)

Gone Drinking

Jackobyte wrote: »

Little off the subject but you can't look at NK on google earth!!! Try it! Its just blank... The capital is marked but you can't see anymore than its gps location... No details!!!:eek:

It must not exist so! :eek:

adamski8

Jackobyte wrote: »

Little off the subject but you can't look at NK on google earth!!! Try it! Its just blank... The capital is marked but you can't see anymore than its gps location... No details!!!:eek:

are u yanking our chain, it works on google maps anyway! http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=north+korea&sll=53.344104,-6.267494&sspn=0.202096,0.617294&ie=UTF8&ll=39.027319,125.747108&spn=0.065744,0.154324&t=h&z=13
and here is the hotel http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=39.03645,125.731497&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=&mra=mi&mrsp=0&sz=18&sll=39.036178,125.730913&sspn=0.002054,0.004823&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=18

Flying Abruptly

Pygmalion wrote: »

This stupid hotel could bring in quite a bit of money in the long term.
It's easy to condemn them for not spending the money on feeding the poor but if they just put all their money into feeding the poor the economy will never improve and they'll be stuck starving forever, it may not be very fair or nice, but it's what happens.

Or maybe if they spent a little less than 25% of there GNP on the military that might also help
(http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm)

darkman2 wrote: »

Or maybe if they just opened up their economy to the rest of the world they would be much better off.

Seems this may be starting to happen?
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8204516.stm)

ScumLord

rossie1977 wrote: »

why would the structure be unsafe, a multiple ton tower crane has been sitting on the top for nearly 20 years without falling so that tells you the structure itself is sound

It's an unfinished and more importantly unsealed building left standing for 20 years. concrete buildings rot very quickly if their not sealed properly. It's probably fine but you would have to question how sound the building would be left open to the elements for so long.

Mossy Monk

Jackobyte wrote: »

Little off the subject but you can't look at NK on google earth!!! Try it! Its just blank... The capital is marked but you can't see anymore than its gps location... No details!!!:eek:

The satellite view shows much more than if you looked at Ireland.

petethebrick

Pygmalion wrote: »

This stupid hotel could bring in quite a bit of money in the long term.
It's easy to condemn them for not spending the money on feeding the poor but if they just put all their money into feeding the poor the economy will never improve and they'll be stuck starving forever, it may not be very fair or nice, but it's what happens.

Don'y be such an idiot!
The NK regime has the blood of millions on their hands!!!!
Idiot!

Jackobyte

Haven't looked recently but on Google earth 4.3 you couldn't see it!!!

dsmythy

TheZohan wrote: »

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

I wonder what the civilian Korean experience is compared to yours. People fleeing a country doesn't paint it in a good light. Look at Ireland for example....

TheZohanS

petethebrick wrote: »

Don'y be such an idiot!
The NK regime has the blood of millions on their hands!!!!
Idiot!

So has the American. Does that mean we should all boycott Disneyland?

dlofnep

TheZohan wrote: »

Does that mean we should all boycott Disneyland?

We're already boycotting Disneyland. Get with the program man.

AlmightyCushion

petethebrick wrote: »

Don'y be such an idiot!
The NK regime has the blood of millions on their hands!!!!
Idiot!

Banned for abuse.

Carroller16

You can see Pyonyang, North Korea fairly clearly on GE 4.37

major bill

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Banned for abuse.

The mods are a bit harsh.:cool:

uncleoswald

TheZohan wrote: »

I lived there for 6 months. Did you?

Out of interest did you talk to many of the locals? Did they give an idea of how they found their lot in life and what was their impression of the western world? And where did they get their information on it from? What kind of stuff was been reported by the state media?

I've definitly looked over NK on google earth.

major bill

TheZohan wrote: »

So has the American. Does that mean we should all boycott Disneyland?

spot on.

ScumLord

dsmythy wrote: »

I wonder what the civilian Korean experience is compared to yours. People fleeing a country doesn't paint it in a good light. Look at Ireland for example....

But when Irish people leave Ireland they seem to forget it's a ****hole and start singing it's praises.

994

rossie1977 wrote: »

why would the structure be unsafe, a multiple ton tower crane has been sitting on the top for nearly 20 years without falling so that tells you the structure itself is sound

Because the engineer told them to build the base struts (or something like that) out of steel, but they didn't have enough steel so they used low-quality concrete instead. Which wasn't strong enough.

Jackobyte

Updated to GE 5 and now can view... couldn't view on GE Pro 4.3... Weird...

My name is URL

meh

AlmightyCushion

major bill wrote: »

The mods are a bit harsh.:cool:

Stern. Stern but fair. He could have gotten his point across without using abuse. We don't allow discussion of moderation on thread (it just ends up bringing the thread off topic) so if you would like to discuss this further then pm me.

major bill

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Stern. Stern but fair. He could have gotten his point across without using abuse. We don't allow discussion of moderation on thread (it just ends up bringing the thread off topic) so if you would like to discuss this further then pm me.

na spot on

Kintarō Hattori

My name is URL wrote: »

meh

Feeling the heat eh?

Bragadin

I have my doubts that this hotel will make any money, considering how large it is and the small amounts of visitors the country gets. I doubht many north koreans will be able to afford to stay there either. It's just a show for the foreigners, just like the giant flagpole in the dmz

TheZohanS

uncleoswald wrote: »

Out of interest did you talk to many of the locals? Did they give an idea of how they found their lot in life and what was their impression of the western world? And where did they get their information on it from? What kind of stuff was been reported by the state media?

I've definitly looked over NK on google earth.

Yes I talked to quite a few locals. They seemed happy enough; they just wanted to get on with life. Really nice people and had a great sense of humour. They reminded me of how Irish people were many years ago.

The older people were interested in Western culture but not to the point that they wanted to adopt it whereas the younger generation showed a greater interest. What they didn't like was the interference from Western countries; they felt that this would only create more problems for their people. They are a very proud people.

My name is URL

Well if the Americans say they're a threat to world peace then it must be true :rolleyes:

Is it any wonder they decided to develop nuclear weapons?

Pisses me off how the mindless masses just accept everything that the US says, they're trying to Americanise the globe and as soon as a nation shows any sign of not cooperating they become a danger..!

Go fcuk yourself America

King of Kings

TheZohan wrote: »

What did you find crazy about North Korea when you visited it?

actually my cousin went there this year and found it to be poor but nothing like the ****e that is spouted in the media over here.

Quint

I read before that the concrete used in the shell of the hotel was of such low quality, it couldn't be finished.
From wiki:

After 16 years of inactivity, foreign residents in Pyongyang noted that Egypt's Orascom Group started refurbishing the top floors of the hotel in April 2008. Though the effect on the architecture has yet to be determined, glass paneling and telecommunications antennas were observed being installed.

[12]

The Orascom Telecom subsidiary of the group confirmed involvement in the structure to begin developing GSM infrastructure in North Korea for up to 100,000 initial subscribers.[13] Only government officials are currently permitted to use mobile phones and the service has been banned from use by ordinary citizens and foreigners since 2002.[14]

In September 2008, a senior North Korean official said the refurbishing of the Ryugyong Hotel will be done by 2012 - the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. At the same time, an Orascom company official said the goal of the project was to at least give the structure's facade a facelift and make it more attractive.[7]

On December 22, 2008, photos of ongoing construction at the hotel appeared on the Internet.[15] The exterior construction has included the installation of windows and a covering of the top (circular) floors

Sure even if they did complete it, it's not like they'll fill it with tourists.