LONDON – Luxury hotel operators Kempinski have told NK NEWS that plans to open rooms at the 105 floor Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang have been put on hold because of “market conditions” in North Korea.

Kempinski stunned the world last November when Chief Executive Reto Wittwer revealed that the German brand would be opening 150 rooms at the top of what media have long labelled as Pyongyang’s “Hotel of Doom”, the Ryugyong.

“Kempinski Hotels confirms that KEY International, its joint venture partner in China with Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), had initial discussions to operate a hotel in