Yanggakdo International Hotel

Yanggakdo International Hotel
	Front view
Basic data
Place:	Pyongyang
Construction time :	1986-1992
Opening:	1995
Status :	in operation
Use / legal
Usage :	hotel
Room :	1000
Technical specifications
Height :	170 m
Floors :	47
Usable area :	87,870 m²
Height comparison
Pyongyang :	2. ( list )
North Korea :	2. ( list )
address
City:	Pyongyang
Country:	North Korea

The Yanggakdo International Hotel is the largest hotel in operation, while the second largest building in North Korea , according to the Ryugyong hotel . It stands on the southern edge of downtown Pyongyang , the capital of North Korea, at the eastern end of Yanggak Island , which is surrounded by the Taedong-gang River. The building is 170 meters high; other sources estimate the height at around 150 meters. A revolving restaurant is located on the 47th floor . According to information, the hotel has 1000 rooms and a total area of 87,870 m². It was built by the French construction company Campenon Bernard from 1986 to 1992 and opened in 1995.

background

On the ground floor there is a bar, a bookshop and the reception. There you can buy uncirculated North Korean coin sets, postcards and letters as well as everyday objects at tourist prices.

In addition to the revolving restaurant on the roof, there are four other restaurants on the ground floor, the two dining rooms, the banquet hall and the dining rooms with Japanese, Chinese and Korean cuisine.

In the basement of the hotel there is a bowling alley, a billiards room, an indoor swimming pool, a hairdressing salon, a casino and a massage club, which is operated by a Chinese company and where exclusively female staff work.

The outdoor area originally comprised a 9000 m² nine-hole golf course . In 2011, however, the construction of a Chinese-financed health complex began on the site.

The Yanggakdo International Hotel regularly serves as accommodation for Western visitors to North Korea. It is also mentioned in the cartoon Pyongyang by the cartoonist Guy Delisle .

The fifth floor is not accessible to guests; it does not exist on the floor selection fields of the hotel lifts, although it is shown in the floor display when passing through. Guests who entered via the stairwell reported dark corridors with low ceilings and propaganda posters on the walls, as well as a communication room with surveillance monitors.

On January 2, 2016, US tourist Otto Warmbier was arrested for "hostile activities" because the day before he had allegedly taken a political poster from the hotel's staff area and stolen it.

The hotel from the roof of the Juche Tower from
Facade at night
Interior view of a standard size double room
View from the hotel to the west over Yanggak Island to the Pyongyang International Cinema Hall (front) and the Yanggakdo Stadium (August 2012)