The world’s tallest hotel will open next year in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang as the impoverished totalitarian regime burdened by international sanctions seeks foreign currency through a boost in tourism.

The 105-story, pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel, whose foundations were poured almost three decades ago, will open partially in July or August, German luxury-hotel operator Kempinski AG Chief Executive Officer Reto Wittwer said today at a forum in Seoul.

Kempinski will be the first western hospitality service to operate in North Korea, he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is courting overseas visitors as one of the main means to earn much-needed foreign currency as the international community lodges tougher sanctions on the politically isolated Asian nation for conducting nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and biggest source of tourism as U.S., European and South Korean nationals are barred from traveling to the North.

“This pyramid monster hotel will monopolize all the business in the city,” Wittwer said. “I said to myself, we have to get this hotel if there is ever a chance, because this will become a money-printing machine if North Korea opens up.”

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