The Ryugyong Hotel has been under construction since 1987 and remains unoccupied. Work halted entirely from 1992 to 2008 when North Korea's post-Soviet economic collapse left the concrete skeleton sitting dormant for sixteen years, becoming an embarrassment the regime began airbrushing out of official photographs. Foreign journalists coined it "the Hotel of Doom." That a commemorative coin was struck for it in 2013 — while the building still lacked functioning elevators, plumbing, or a completion date — is a peculiarity with few parallels in numismatic history.
The Ryugyong Hotel has been under construction since 1987 and remains unoccupied. Work halted entirely from 1992 to 2008 when North Korea's post-Soviet economic collapse left the concrete skeleton sitting dormant for sixteen years, becoming an embarrassment the regime began airbrushing out of official photographs. Foreign journalists coined it "the Hotel of Doom." That a commemorative coin was struck for it in 2013 — while the building still lacked functioning elevators, plumbing, or a completion date — is a peculiarity with few parallels in numismatic history.