Yanggakdo International Hotel - North Korea's Biggest Hotel: Prostitutes and the Death of a Student

Location

The hotel sits on Yanggak Island, which translates to "horn of the ram" after the island's distinctive shape. Located in the middle of the Taedong River, it's just five minutes by car from Pyongyang Railway Station, eight minutes from Kim Il Sung Square, and 45 minutes from the airport. The island also hosts the International Cinema House, home to the Pyongyang International Film Festival, and the Yanggakdo Stadium, where the Pyongyang Railways Football Team plays.

The island location isn't coincidental. While tour operators insist you can't leave any hotel unaccompanied anyway, skeptics note that placing foreigners on an island makes surveillance considerably easier.

Rise of a Soviet-Era Giant

Construction began on March 23, 1985, with assistance from France's Campenon Bernard Construction Company. The tower frame was completed by May 20, 1990, before work on the even more ambitious Ryugyong Hotel ground to a halt in 1992. The Yanggakdo finally opened its doors in 1995.

The hotel closed in November 2018 for major renovations to the lobby and basement, reopening in April 2019, just days before the Pyongyang Marathon and Kim Il Sung's birthday celebrations. The exterior received a metallic cladding that gives it a silver-gray finish, while the structure's triangular shape from above and rectangular profile from the side create an oddly futuristic silhouette, topped with a UFO-like revolving restaurant that looks straight out of the 1960s.

The Otto Warmbier Case

On January 1, 2016, Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, was arrested at the hotel. North Korean authorities accused him of stealing a propaganda poster from a staff-only area, possibly the restricted fifth floor. Low-resolution surveillance footage provided by the government showed someone removing a banner from a wall.

On March 16, 2016, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "hostile acts against the state." He was detained for 17 months before being returned to the United States on June 13, 2017, in a coma. North Korea claimed food poisoning caused his condition, but American doctors found evidence of severe brain damage consistent with oxygen deprivation. Warmbier died six days after his return, never regaining consciousness.

The incident sparked international outrage and led to increased travel warnings for Americans visiting North Korea.

The Floor That Doesn't Exist and Other Dark Whispers

The Yanggakdo's most persistent mystery is its fifth floor. The guest elevators have buttons for floors 1 through 4, then skip directly to 6 through 43. Two elevators also serve floors 46 and 47. Staff elevators do access the fifth floor, but it's strictly off-limits to tourists.

Those who've ventured there via the stairwell describe dark corridors with unusually low ceilings, about half the height of other floors, and propaganda posters covering the walls with slogans like "Our General is the best" and "Let us take revenge hundreds of thousands of times over against the Americans." One unlocked room reportedly contained surveillance monitors showing hotel room interiors.

Hotel authorities have cracked down on these unauthorized visits. As Warmbier discovered, trespassing into restricted areas carries severe consequences.

Then there are the prostitution rumors. A 2007 WikiLeaks document reveals that South Korean tourists were offered massages for $35, with one client meeting a prostitute for $100. The Chinese-operated massage parlor in the basement is rumored to provide "gentleman's services," though this remains unconfirmed.

The Lobby

Technically located on the second floor (press "2" in the elevator to reach it), the lobby underwent renovations in 2019 and now gleams with a notably shinier finish than the rest of the hotel. To the left of the reception desk sits a tea shop that functions as a bar and sitting area where staff don't mind if you linger without ordering. Further left, past the basement entrance, you'll find the bookshop stocking the same titles available at Pyongyang's Foreign Language Bookshop, along with a souvenir shop.

On the right side is a small booth for printing documents and photos, a snack shop, and a 24-hour telecommunications center where you can make international calls (also possible from your room, though more expensive) and send postcards. The Unjong Teahouse, a bar serving Korean and Western food, specializes in home-brewed beer at 3 dollars per pint, the most expensive in the country.

The lobby floor houses several restaurants: Rainbow Restaurant, Korean Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant, and Restaurants Number 1 and Number 2. Despite different decor, they're fundamentally similar. Breakfast is served in one of these or in the banquet hall.

The Basement Entertainment

Two separate basements offer extensive entertainment options. Basement 1, leased to a Macau company, caters primarily to Chinese tourists. It houses a restaurant serving standard Chinese food, an abandoned nightclub (closed around 2008), the massage center with its rumored extra services, and a small casino.

Pyongyang Casino is one of only two in North Korea (the other is in Rason). Everything operates in Chinese with minimal English spoken. North Korean citizens are banned from entering, as gambling is illegal for locals but permitted for foreigners. The casino offers slot machines, blackjack, baccarat, and "big/small" (a dice-based game similar to roulette). Minimum bets start at $20. Used casino chips can be purchased as souvenirs, though old card decks cannot.

The casino stays open until 5am and offers one crucial amenity: Wi-Fi. It's one of the few places in North Korea where you can get a signal, though you must be gambling to use it. The lobby also offers internet access at $1.70 per 10 minutes, with fairly fast connections that don't require a VPN for most websites and social media.

Basement 2 contains ping pong tables, a billiards room, a three-lane bowling alley, a karaoke room, the cold noodle restaurant, and a swimming pool (25 meters long, 25 RMB entry, with showers and a poolside bar). Almost all establishments have their own bars and are staffed by North Koreans (unlike Basement 1's Chinese operation). They typically stay open until midnight or later depending on customer volume.

The staff are professional players at their respective games and often challenge guests to matches. Betting a drink or snack on the outcome adds interest to an otherwise slow evening.

The Tailors

Located on the third floor, the tailor shop once offered custom-made winter jackets (90 euros), suits, traditional Korean outfits, and the olive green jumpsuits many North Koreans wear. The elevator doesn't stop at the third floor, so you'll need to climb the marble staircase on the right side of the lobby. Rates were reasonable and bargaining was possible.

However, international sanctions now prohibit exporting textiles from North Korea, so while you can still browse and get measured, you can't take the clothes home. The third floor also houses a barber shop charging 40 RMB for cuts, where tourists can opt for styles that fall outside North Korean norms.

Korea's Take on Western Cuisine (It's All the Same)

The hotel offers multiple dining options. Breakfast is typically a buffet on the ground floor with both Korean and Western items: toast, omelets, yogurt, coffee, tea, and sponge cakes. The Korean Restaurant on the ground floor stays open late and serves affordable local meals. The fried rice and bibimbap come highly recommended. For late-night cravings, there's also a cold noodle restaurant in the basement.

The Chinese restaurant, European restaurant, and Korean restaurant technically serve different cuisines, but visitors report they all offer essentially the same food: a Korean interpretation of Western dishes. One guest noted the surreal experience of being the only diners in a fully staffed restaurant.

The Revolving Restaurant

The 47th floor hosts the crown jewel: a revolving restaurant with panoramic views of Pyongyang. Only two elevators access this floor, and waiting times can stretch to 10 minutes or more during busy periods. The restaurant completes one full rotation per hour, though it doesn't always work.

The view is spectacular during the day, perfect for photography before window glare becomes an issue. At night, the city is mostly dark, making photos difficult but drinks more atmospheric. The restaurant typically closes around 11pm unless there's a crowd. Prices are higher than at other hotel bars, but the experience of watching Pyongyang slowly spin beneath you is worth it. One piano sits on this floor, though it's badly out of tune. The one in the lobby fares marginally better.

The corridors smell peculiar (one visitor thought it resembled celery), carpets show stains and wear, and everything carries a faint smoke odor.

The Rooms

Rooms are clean and spacious, if dated. The furniture has been in place since 1992, and the chairs show wear from thousands of previous guests. Each room includes air conditioning, a small fridge, a kettle for hot drinks, two single beds, a table, two chairs, and a bathroom with a 24-hour hot water bathtub. Each room has a telephone for international calls (expensive, up to 6 euros per minute) and a flat-screen television.

Tour guides and basement staff occupy most lower floors, with guides typically on floors 11-13. Tourist rooms are above that. Higher floors offer better views but longer waits for the notoriously slow elevators, which can take 10-20 minutes during peak hours.

Laundry service is available. Place clothes in the provided bag in the morning, and they'll be ready on your bed when you return in the evening.

Towels, toiletries, and slippers are provided, though bringing your own bath towel is advisable since the hotel's are reportedly "the size of dishcloths."

You'll have access to two North Korean channels (North Korean Central Television), five Chinese channels, and one Qatari channel (Al Jazeera). During special events, CNN, BBC, and NHK have also been available.

Despite its official four-star North Korean rating and deluxe classification, by Western standards the Yanggakdo barely scrapes three stars. The elevators are painfully slow and poorly synchronized, though they do feature a promotional video about the hotel itself, installed during the 2015 tourism suspension over Ebola fears. The video still advertises the now-demolished golf course.

Yet this surreal time capsule of 1990s hospitality, with its mysterious restricted floor, casino Wi-Fi, and the ghost of Otto Warmbier haunting its corridors, remains utterly unique. You can send postcards anywhere in the world except South Korea from the communications center, bowl in your street shoes while avoiding the shapely legs of staff manually resetting pins, or drink draft beer while a pianist plays classical music in a gleaming lobby that belies the worn, smoke-scented reality upstairs.

Misty Mornings

Views from upper floors are excellent for photographing Pyongyang. Two of the eight elevators have glass fronts, offering exterior views as you ascend. In the morning, mist sometimes rolls in from the river, creating atmospheric shots of the Juche Tower emerging from the fog.

You can walk the hotel grounds unaccompanied, a rarity in North Korea. Straight out from the hotel, a road leads to the bridge to town. The grounds are clearly marked, so you can walk to the edge, then circle the building to the island's tip for views north up the Taedong River toward central Pyongyang.