The world hosts many unique casinos in many amazing locations, but the one planned here may just about be in one of the most isolated countries on the planet. North Korea, not normally known for brazen attempts to attract foreign investment, started building the 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang back in 1987 – no, that is not a typo.
The collapse of the then Soviet Union stalled the grand opening in 1992 as the cash from Moscow dried up and so the huge skyline-dominating pyramid lay in a state of incompletion until the exterior was finally finished in 2011. Now, some 15 years later with the building acting as one of the world’s largest LED displays having had screens installed along one side which show propaganda signage, according to a report on Radio Free Asia, the hotel is looking for casino friends to help it finally realize its potential.
“A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed,” a resident of the capital told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “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,” he said.
“This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
The Yanggakdo Hote currently operates a “foreigners-only” casino on its premises and another at the Bipa Hotel in the Rason Special Economic Zone in the northeast of the country, close to the border with China and Russia.
The opportunity is expected to be advertised at a forthcoming Chinese Government-sponsored exhibition event and will aim to attract investment from China and Russia.
Featured image courtesy of Uwe Brodrecht
