I’m morbidly fascinated by the Ryugyong Hotel, an unfinished, unoccupied, 105-story monstrosity in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Apparently I’m not the only one.)
Not only is the building remarkable for its sheer ugliness, but– if it’s possible to describe a concrete-and-steel structure in such a way– there’s something soul-crushing and evil about it. Something like this must have been in George Orwell’s mind when he imagined the Ministry of Love in “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”
In fact it may be further evidence to support my theory that “Nineteen Eighty-Four” has been used as a guide in building the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea.
