| As Asia has risen in statue during the last 30 | | | | republic for 15 years, as Malaysia built the new |
| years, with City planners across the whole | | | | symbol of its prosperity, the Petronas Tower, and |
| continent, designing and building bigger, braver and | | | | China rose through economic prosperity to build |
| taller buildings- North Korea started their own | | | | the Shanghai World Financial Center. Both buildings |
| moral boosting project in 1987, the Ryugyong | | | | were the tallest in the World, whilst the Ryugyong |
| Hotel.. | | | | Hotel became an International joke. |
| Today it dominates the skyline at the hermit | | | | But times have changed in North Korea, and the |
| Republics capital- Pyongyang, an unfinished empty | | | | "Hotel of Doom," is now being |
| shell, and what many architects claim to be the | | | | refurbished inside, with a proposed completion |
| ugliest building in the World or simply the Hotel of | | | | date of around 2012. Whilst the Government of |
| Doom. | | | | this strange land still survive, and have even |
| North Korea's recent history could be symbolized | | | | joined the Nuclear club in late 2008. |
| in the history of the Hotel of Doom. In 1993, | | | | Once the building opens it may be late, but the |
| funding simply ran out, as the nation fought mass | | | | building itself will become an everlasting symbol of |
| food shortages and some International Trade | | | | the fortunes of North Korea, and the ambitions of |
| sanctions. The Hotel must of stood there, | | | | its leaders. Many say it is a "white" |
| decaying as millions were hungry, and many | | | | elephant, but it is destined to become a |
| people simply died of starvation. | | | | "great symbol" to the leaders of the |
| The finished shell sat dominating the hermit | | | | Worlds last remaining Stalinist state. |