Editing Ryugyong Hotel (section)

===Beginning===
The plan for a large hotel was reportedly a [[Cold War]] response to the completion of the world's then-tallest hotel, the [[Swissôtel The Stamford|Westin Stamford Hotel]] in Singapore, in 1986 by the South Korean company [[SsangYong Group]].<ref name="oversight"/> North Korean leadership envisioned the project as a channel for Western investors to step into the marketplace.<ref name="oversight"/> A firm, The Ryugyong Hotel Investment and Management, was established to attract a hoped-for $230&nbsp;million in foreign investment.<ref name="oversight"/> A representative for the North Korean government promised relaxed oversight, allowing "foreign investors [to] operate [[casino]]s, [[nightclub]]s or Japanese lounges".<ref name="oversight">{{cite journal |last=Ngor |first=Oh Kwee |date=9 June 1990 |title=Western decadence hits N.&nbsp;Korea |journal=Japan Economic Journal |page=12}}</ref> North Korean construction firm Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers (also known as Baekdu Mountain Architects and Engineers) began construction on a pyramid‑shaped hotel in 1987.<ref name=IFES>{{cite web |url=http://ifes.kyungnam.ac.kr/eng/m05/s10/content.asp?nkbriefNO=207&GoP=1 |title=Orascom and DPRK to Complete Ryugyong Hotel Construction |publisher=The Institute for Far Eastern Studies |date=20 May 2008 |access-date=9 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703133311/http://ifes.kyungnam.ac.kr/eng/m05/s10/content.asp?nkbriefNO=207&GoP=1 |archive-date=3 July 2009 }}</ref><ref name="almanac">{{cite book |title=Almanac of Architecture & Design |editor1=Cramer, James P. |editor2=Jennifer Evans Yankopolus |publisher=Greenway Publications |location=Atlanta |year=2006 |edition=7th |page=368 |isbn=0-9755654-2-7}}</ref>

The hotel was originally scheduled to be opened to the public in 1992 for the 80th birthday of Kim, but problems with building methods and materials delayed completion.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/6337040/North-Korean-hotel-dubbed-the-worst-building-in-the-world-may-finally-be-finished.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/6337040/North-Korean-hotel-dubbed-the-worst-building-in-the-world-may-finally-be-finished.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=North Korean hotel dubbed the 'worst building in the world' may finally be finished |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=16 October 2009 |access-date=25 August 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Had it opened on schedule, it would have surpassed the Westin Stamford to become the world's tallest hotel,<ref name="ABC">{{cite news |first=Dan |last=Beckmann |title=Pyongyang: Home to the Tallest Hotel in the World That Could, but Will Never Be |url=https://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2590901 |publisher=ABC News |date=23 October 2006 |access-date=5 July 2009 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319110841/https://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2590901 |url-status=live }}</ref> and would have been the [[List of tallest buildings in the world|seventh-tallest building in the world]]. Instead it became the [[Unfinished buildings|world's tallest abandoned building]].<ref name=Emporis/>