Editing Ryugyong Hotel (section)

===Halt===
In 1992, after the building had reached its full architectural height,<ref name=Emporis>{{cite web |url=http://www.emporis.com/buildings/130967/ryugyong-hotel-pyongyang-north-korea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512153724/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/130967/ryugyong-hotel-pyongyang-north-korea |url-status=usurped |archive-date=12 May 2015 |title=Ryugyong Hotel |access-date=9 February 2010 |work=Emporis}}</ref> work was halted due to the [[North Korean famine|economic crisis]] in North Korea following the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="doom"/> [[Japanese newspapers]] estimated the cost of construction was $750&nbsp;million,<ref name="cost">{{cite journal |title=North Korea builds record-height hotel |date=15 November 1990 |journal=Engineering News-Record |page=41}}</ref> consuming 2&nbsp;percent of North Korea's GDP.<ref name="Esquire"/> For over a decade, the unfinished building sat vacant and without windows, fixtures, or fittings, appearing as a massive concrete shell.<ref name=Emporis/> A rusting construction crane remained at the top, which the [[BBC]] called "a reminder of the [[totalitarian]] state's thwarted ambition".<ref name=doom/><ref name="Kirk2008">{{cite news |last=Kirk |first=Donald |publication-date=17 October 2008 |title=Grand Illusion |periodical=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2008/1027/059.html |access-date=5 July 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225112051/http://www.forbes.com/global/2008/1027/059.html |archive-date=25 December 2015 }}</ref> According to Marcus Noland, in the late 1990s, the [[European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK)|European Chamber of Commerce in Korea]] inspected the building and concluded that the structure was irreparable.<ref>{{cite book |last=Noland |first=Marcus |title=Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas |publisher=Institute for International Economics |location=Washington, DC |year=2000 |page=[https://archive.org/details/avoidingapocalyp00nola_0/page/82 82] |isbn=0-88132-278-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/avoidingapocalyp00nola_0/page/82 }}</ref> Questions were raised regarding the quality of the building's concrete and the alignment of its [[elevator]] shafts, which some sources said were "crooked".<ref name=doom/><ref name="Quinones2003"/>

In a 2006 article, [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] questioned whether North Korea had sufficient [[raw materials]] or energy for such a massive project.<ref name="ABC"/> A North Korean government official told the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' in 2008 that construction was not completed "because [North Korea] ran out of money".<ref name="boom">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-27-fg-boom27-story.html |title=North Korea in the midst of mysterious building boom |date=27 September 2008 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=14 December 2008 |first=Barbara |last=Demick}}</ref>

Though mocked-up images of the completed hotel had appeared on North Korean stamps during the initial construction period, the [[Government of North Korea|North Korean government]] ignored the building's existence during the construction hiatus even though it dominated the Pyongyang skyline. The government [[Photo manipulation|manipulated]] official photographs in order to remove the unfinished structure from the skyline, and excluded it from printed maps of Pyongyang.<ref name="ABC"/><ref name=boom/><ref name=doom/>

The halt in construction, the rumours of problems and the mystery about its future led foreign media sources to dub it "the worst building in the world",<ref name="Esquire">{{cite web |publication-date=28 January 2008 |title=The Worst Building in the History of Mankind |periodical=Esquire |url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a4184/hotel-of-doom-012808/ |access-date=5 July 2009 |first=Eva |last=Hagberg |date=28 January 2008 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714141049/https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a4184/hotel-of-doom-012808/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Independent">{{cite news |last=Herskovitz |first=Jon |publication-date=18 July 2008 |title=North Koreans revamp 'world's worst building' |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-koreans-revamp-worlds-worst-building-870858.html |access-date=5 July 2009 |location=London |archive-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203021113/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-koreans-revamp-worlds-worst-building-870858.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "Hotel of Doom" and "Phantom Hotel".<ref name="doom">{{cite news |title=Will 'Hotel of Doom' ever be finished? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8306697.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=15 October 2009 |access-date=13 October 2009 |archive-date=15 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015024340/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8306697.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>