King, who ran across the border into the hermit kingdom on Tuesday, may not face a life of luxury in the totalitarian state, which is known for famine.
North Korea, the highly isolated, totalitarian Asian nation, is home to certain unusual superlatives — but, for many inside its borders, living in luxury is far from them.
And what reality holds in store for Travis King — the 23-year-old US soldier who defected to North Korea on Tuesday by running across the border while shouting “ha ha ha!” during a tour of the area — is unclear, but it certainly won’t be glamorous.
In terms of its strange records, the hermit kingdom — which borders China, Russia and South Korea with a population of 26 million — is home to the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang. That’s the country’s tallest building, and has reportedly never hosted a single guest. It’s also one of the world’s tallest unoccupied buildings and, despite construction beginning in 1987, it’s yet to reach completion.
Even more bizarre, North Korea is also home to the world’s largest stadium. The 1989-built May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, which received an update in 2014, fits a staggering 150,000 people within a design modeled off a magnolia blossom.
