North Korea's 'hotel of doom' could open next year Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel will "partially, probably" open in the middle of next year, Reto Wittwer, CEO of international hotel operator Kempinski AG, said on Thursday at a forum in Seoul, South Korea. Kempinski will manage the hotel, which Mr Wittwer said will open with shops, offices, ballrooms, restaurants and 150 rooms. Wittwer said he first saw a picture of the hotel many years ago, and thought then that it could eventually make a lot of money. He said Cairo-based Orascom Telecom is funding the construction. The firm launched a mobile network in North Korea in 2008. In September, a foreign tour agency released photographs from inside the hotel, showing a bare concrete lobby, as well as sweeping views of Pyongyang from a viewing platform. The enormous hotel remains a source of fascination - and ridicule - for the outside world. It has been nicknamed the "hotel of doom." It was labelled by Esquire magazine as the "worst building in the history of mankind." Reports emerged last year suggesting the hotel was finally due to open its doors, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder Kim il-sung. It was in 1987 that the hotel - whose name means Capital of Willows - was first launched with the grandiose ambitions of creating the world's tallest tower. However, construction ground to a halt in 1993, due to lack of funds following the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic mismanagement and natural disasters.