Tokyo hotel where Kim Dae-jung was kidnapped to be closed

Grand Palace Hotel in Iidabashi, Tokyo where former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was kidnapped in 1973 will close its business on June 30 due to financial difficulty from COVID-19.

The hotel announced on Tuesday via its website that it is put in an unprecedented business environment and that it decided to close hotel business on June 30. Following its announcement at the end of last year that it will suspend its operation for a while from July 2021, the hotel decided to shut down due to the prolonged pandemic.

Grand Palace Hotel, which opened in February 1972, is considered to be one of the most prestigious hotels in Tokyo. It has 24 floors and five basement levels with a total of 458 rooms. It is located in the center of Tokyo close to the Imperial Palace, the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It won an architecture award from the Building Contractors Society in 1973. To South Koreans, the hotel is known as a place where the agents of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped former President Kim on August 8, 1973. Kim was carrying out anti-Yushin regime activities in Japan as an opposition party leader at the time.


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