Look Inside North Korea's Insane Ryugyong Hotel for the First Time

There’s no more fitting metaphor for North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel than the fact that it’s shaped like the Simpsons’ Enron ride. Construction on the hotel began in 1987, and was supposed to be completed by 1989. By 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union — and the resulting loss of cash flow from Moscow — put a major pinch on North Korea’s funds, construction on what was to be the world’s tallest structure at its inception halted, leaving a giant skeleton of building towering over the glittery squalor of Pyongyang like a wireframe spaceship.