# Pyongyang: "Worst Building in the History of Mankind" Gets a Face Lift **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663 "2009-09-19T00:03:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/1 "2009-09-19T00:03:29Z")
Story [here](http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift-20090907-fdbs.html). The 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, “started in 1987 and halted for 16 years because it could have bankrupted the destitute state.” It really does look kind of cool now. All part of a part of a “campaign to try to turn the state into a great and prosperous nation by 2012.” Uh-huh. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/2 "2009-09-19T00:15:18Z")
Huge improvement. Everything equal, I don’t like the new look all that much, but it’s 1000 times better than the abandoned fascist galactic capital building look of before. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/3 "2009-09-19T00:15:41Z")
I’ll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/4 "2009-09-19T00:21:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd. Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/5 "2009-09-19T00:36:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd. Or at least polish one side. I highly doubt they will finish the other sides. I liked the quote that you finish one side and if all goes well you finish the other sides. Right. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/6 "2009-09-19T01:21:02Z")
You guys must have missed the mythbusters episode where they polished lion poop up to have a higer gloss index than chrome. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/7 "2009-09-19T01:27:12Z")
Kinda sucks to think about the extra 20,000 North Korea peasants that will have to starve to death because of this, but yeah, its sorta neat to look at. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/8 "2009-09-19T01:37:34Z")
This building is the Duke Nukem Forever of hotels. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/9 "2009-09-19T01:42:43Z")
Maybe now North Koreans will be allowed to acknowledge that this thing exists. It has for years been much the most prominent building in the country, but reports said that if you took photos or even spoke of it you could be in serious trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/10 "2009-09-19T01:45:46Z")
Just think, in a few years, the Glorious Kim Jong-Il Spaceship of Future Happiness may even be ready for launch. Oh wait, it’s NOT a space ship? Then it must the the North Korean version of the Pyramids, and Dear Leader will be buried under it when he does. Along with all his top aides, living or dead. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/11 "2009-09-19T06:51:32Z")
I had no idea it was 105 friggn stories. That is a LOT of ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/12 "2009-09-19T06:58:33Z")
Hey, this is awesome! I love the hotel because it is so fuckin’ grotesque. Sort of cool to see it with a makeover. The creepiness level dropped about 50% but it’s still a big tower of fug. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/13 "2009-09-19T13:12:00Z")
So is it being converted to a monument then? I doubt it was structurally sound enough to hold people, which was an often cited concern by outsiders. Maybe it will be changed to monument to the freedom of the N. Koreans. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/14 "2009-09-19T15:52:43Z")
I especially enjoy the fact the face they’re shining up is the only one ever seen in any “before” photos. The other sides apparently don’t exist. Although it certainly doesn’t fit in with its surroundings, had the building been a success the design would have been pretty cool & over the top, like the famous Dubai hotels & other high rises are. > [@](#): > > Maybe it will be changed to monument to the freedom of the N. Koreans. Actually, after the Kims are gone, it might make a superb monument to that. Leave the bottom half (third?) looking like the Communist disaster it was, and the top half all shiny & new, reflecting both the peoples’ relief at being freed and their aspirations to accomplish the same miracle South Korea did. Metaphorically, the shiny new built on the ashes / foundations of the old. And the monstrous size matches the monstrous crime. In all, I think that’s the best Idea I’ve had all week. I wonder how I can profit from it? Oops, it’s in the public domain now. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/15 "2009-10-15T07:40:42Z")
I think when they open it, the slogan should be: “Now witness the power of this fully operational battle station.” 😃 I have seen the building in person and it is the most bizarre structure I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/16 "2009-10-15T10:59:21Z")
Ugliest buildings in the world are the tower flats built in the UK after WWII. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/17 "2009-10-15T11:07:55Z")
Ugliest buildings in the world are the tower flats built in the UK after WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/18 "2009-10-15T11:20:35Z")
Who on Earth did they think was going to stay in a 3,000 room hotel in Pyongyang? As far as I know the North Vietnamese almost never let Foreigners into their country, and the handful of people that do get in aren’t allowed to just wander around with a Nikon photographing things willy-nilly and generally having what the rest of the civilised world might consider a “holiday”. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/19 "2009-10-15T11:37:51Z")
^ Well for starters they thought that since they are not North Vietnamese, they could do that. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663/20 "2009-10-15T11:40:02Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > ^ > Well for starters they thought that since they are not North Vietnamese, they could do that. :smack: Sorry, that’s what happens when I try and post here whilst simultaneously explaining the finer points of the Vietnam War to someone else at the same time… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pyongyang-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift/510663.md?page=2)