Photos from inside North Korean Ryugyong Hotel (opens in new tab)

It's the same thing as with aircraft carriers - today, smaller, more maneuverable ships (hence the focus on VTOL, as well) and drones are favored over the huge floating islands that are basically sitting ducks.

I think the reason for no more tall buildings is the lack of space in the big cities - nobody's going to build a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere, after all :-)...

> It seems like that was the beginning of the decline of American power.

Or the beginning of the realization that such buildings make little economic sense? After the 70s, local governments were far more reluctant to finance such endeavors ... with no subsidies, building them made even less sense.

Most undoubtedly. Given my non-expert outsider cursory knowledge of North Korea, the hotel will likely never be finished and will remain for show. They'll probably finish the main lobby and a handful of rooms — just enough to give the impression of how grandiose it is. Keeping up appearances.

Also, consider what happens to concrete being exposed like that for two decades. The concrete isn't meant for decades of weather, it's meant to be enclosed. The concrete degrades and becomes unsafe. Same thing has happened with a lot of the Dubai skyscrapers whose construction was halted, and they were only exposed for a few years (so says a Dubai contractor friend).

You have to use either Koryo or another government approved/run organisation for tourism inside the DPRK.

http://wikitravel.org/en/North_Korea

ahh, I can see one photo, a singular photo of the inside.