Does the first picture in this video show the most opulent hotel in North Korea? No, that's not true: The first image actually features a traveler's snapshot of the Sanwa Hotel in Japan, showing a compact room with a small bed and an old television placed on top of a shelf along the wall.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) on TikTok by @know_everything_ on October 1, 2023. The caption read (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
Shocking view of North Korea's most luxurious hotel.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Dec 4 15:51:42 2023 UTC)
A Korean blog post (archived here) included the same photo titled (as translated):
Shocking Japanese hotel
11,000 won per night
15,000 won if you have a TV
Hotel Key -> Scissors
This is what the photo looked like on the blog at the time of writing:
(Source: Daum screenshot taken on Mon Dec 4 15:53:19 2023 UTC)
The blog post also included a YouTube link where the Korean user @captainbrother traveled to Japan and vlogged his experience at the Sanwa Hotel. The YouTube video is titled (as translated) "Japan's Worst Hotel with the Lowest Google Ratings," with the description:
This hotel is the Sanwa Hotel, famous for being the worst hotel in Japan among the overseas travel community.
This is what the footage looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Mon Dec 4 15:57:36 2023 UTC)
Another YouTube traveler by the name of @godh1k1 posted a video titled (as translated):
Small hotel room narrower than a prison cell for 10,000 won per night.
This is what the video looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Mon Dec 4 15:58:54 2023 UTC)
The Sanwa Hotel is located in Kobe, Japan. The hotel had a 1.9 rating (archived here) with 28 Google reviews at the time of writing.
