Apocalypse on the Set by Ben Taylor

Author:Ben Taylor [TAYLOR, BEN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PER004010, PER004000
ISBN: 9781468300130
Publisher: Overlook
Published: 2012-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

6

It’s Good

to Be Kim

Pulgasari

COURTESY OF BIG STOCK PHOTO

Vacant

IN THE NORTH KOREAN CAPITAL of Pyongyang, a 105-story concrete building dominates the skyline. The pyramid structure of the Ryugyong Hotel rises to a point of 1,083 feet, achieving the distinction of the twenty-second tallest skyscraper in the world. The hotel has 3,000 rooms and 3,000 vacancies; it has never booked a single reservation and likely never will.

Construction began in 1987 and stopped in 1992, and though the outside shell appears to be complete, the building is without windows, plumbing or any discernable lighting. Little is known about the mysterious structure, and even less is spoken about it within North Korea. Some people have speculated that flawed structural designs or inadequate building materials were responsible for the abrupt halt to the construction, but the most likely cause was insufficient funds.

What remains just as perplexing is the need for a massive hotel in a communist country, which attracts and allows so few tourists. This has led many to conclude that the project is a largely ego-driven endeavor—an attempt to overshadow an imposing 73-story hotel completed in Singapore in 1986. Others have said the original impetus was a desire to draw tourists during the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Above the seven rotating restaurants that form the pinnacle of the Ryugyong Hotel, a single rusty crane remains perched, echoing the days of construction. Though the structure is frequently airbrushed from photographs of the Pyongyang skyline, the building is clearly visible from all vantage points in the city. The government may attempt to attract foreign investment to complete the project in the future, but for now its fate remains unknown.

Over the years the hotel has come to represent the secretive, enigmatic and wildly impulsive practices of the communist regime in physical form. Some journalists have likened the monstrosity to a piece of cinematic science fiction come to life. Perhaps this association is especially fitting for a country whose ruler is so enraptured by the spectacle of film.

As a portly five-foot-three-inch man, Kim Jong II has a penchant for the grandeur of structures like the Ryugyong Hotel. In an attempt to bolster his image as a living god, he has spent billions on monuments designed to commemorate his stature, as well as his father’s. By the late 1980s, over 34,000 monuments to Kim Jong II had been completed at his demand. But even all these structures could not satiate Kim Jong II’s appetite for larger-than-life exhibitions. He was especially taken with the kind of dramatic images provided by his vast personal collection of movies, reported to consist of 10,000 to 15,000 titles. Within this library, he owns every Oscar-winning movie, every installment of the Friday the 13th series, all of James Bond’s adventures and every Rambo movie.

Perhaps high-concept action cinema colors the way he sees the world outside the insulated cult of personality that surrounds him. The goal of this cult is to deify a ruler, making him impervious to the criticism of others, and to inextricably link his leadership with the preservation of the state.

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