<\/p>\n

You would think that Kim Jong-il’s most important addition to culture would have been his glorious ability to look at things and make us ponder the meaning of the universe<\/a> (or why one needs to wear wraparound sunglasses to observe lettuce). But in actuality, perhaps his most lasting monument to Earth will in fact be the Ryugyong Hotel, or as is referred to in some circles and probably not in any of the hotel’s promotional material: “North Korea’s Hotel of Doom.”<\/p>\n

This 1,100-foot-tall, 105-story behemoth began construction back in 1987, but due to certain small setbacks such as the fact that the project ran out of money, electricity, food to feed its workers, and basic raw materials, has still yet to be completed. Nonetheless, Egyptian conglomerate Orascom Group recently invested $400 million dollars<\/a> to get the project back on tracks and hopefully finish it\u00a0by 2012 (obviously in honor of Kim Jong-il’s father’s — Kim Il-sung — 100th birthday).<\/p>\n

And if you like this scar on our planet, then be sure to check out the UK Telegraph<\/em>‘s recent photo essay<\/a> documenting other horrible skyscrapers around the world, including Tokyo’s Lego-like Fuji Tower, and Beijing’s China Central TV headquarters that has acquired the mental image-pleaseing moniker, the “Boxer Shorts” building.<\/p>\n

Read, enjoy, and revisit come Halloween for more seasonally-appropriate horror.<\/p>\n

[The World’s Weirdest Skyscrapers<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You would think that Kim Jong-il’s most important addition to culture would have been his glorious ability to look at things and make us ponder the meaning of the universe (or why one needs to wear wraparound sunglasses to observe lettuce). But in actuality, perhaps his most lasting monument to Earth will in fact be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,2561],"tags":[2396,2395,551,2394,2393],"yoast_head":"\n