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The Ryugyong Hotel, the 105-story pyramid-shaped skyscraper under construction in Pyongyang, North Korea, otherwise known to the world as “The Hotel of Doom” for various reasons — not the least of which is due to its Death Star-like appearance and its location in the world’s most reclusive country — is on track to finally open in 2013, a mere 26 years after construction began in 1987. The announcement was made recently by Reto Wittwer<\/a>, CEO of Kempinski, the German hotel company that will have the honor of running the massive hotel.<\/p>\n The hotel’s design\u00a0itself is a three-sided pyramid “with walls that jag upwards at 75 degrees, capped by a series of concentric rings, [and was] described by one magazine simply as the worst building in the history of mankind.'”<\/a><\/p>\n Construction on the massive project has been on and off over the years, which accounts for its huge delay, and a report by ABC News back in 2006<\/a> even speculated that construction halted at various times over the years due to lack of money, skilled labor and even the raw materials to build it, a result of massive sanctions leveled against the country over the years.<\/p>\n And what of the argument that the opening of this odd wonder of the world may help to open up the country?<\/p>\n \u201cThe short answer is no,\u201d Bruce Goslin, executive managing director of K2 Intelligence and an expert on the country, told CNBC.com. \u201cAside from the obvious facts that it\u2019s a hermit country, ruled by a dictatorship and most of its population are starving, there aren\u2019t many signs of it opening up soon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n