South Korean police on Monday announced the arrest of a Briton who climbed the country’s tallest skyscraper without a permit or security system.
The man, who is British according to police, began climbing the 123 floors of the Lotte World Tower in the south of the capital Seoul at dawn on Monday.
Discovered by tower workers, he was forced to abandon his project after traversing the 73rd floor.
“Lotte’s staff had to climb onto a basket to persuade him to stop while he was still climbing the 70th floor of the building,” a South Korean police official told AFP.
“He eventually gave up and we immediately arrested him for obstructing the performance of an official function,” he continued. “He is currently being interrogated at the Songpa District Police Station in Seoul.”
At 555 meters, the Lotte World Tower is the fifth tallest skyscraper in the world.
Bare-hand climbing specialist Alain Robert, better known as “French Spiderman”, had also attempted to climb this tower without a permit. He had reached the 75th floor before being arrested and then imprisoned in 2018.
Local media, including the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, identified the upstart of this new attempt as George King-Thompson.
In 2021, the Chron reported that Mr Thompson was jailed for attempting to climb the Shard, a 72-storey skyscraper in London.