(Seoul) South Korean police announced on Monday the arrest of a Briton who climbed the highest skyscraper in the country without authorization or any security system.
The man, of British nationality according to the police, had launched Monday at dawn in the ascent of the 123 floors of the Lotte World Tower in the south of the capital Seoul.
Spotted by employees of the tower, he was forced to give up his project after crossing the 73e stage.
“Lotte staff had to get on a basket to convince him to stop as he was still climbing above 70e floor of the building,” a South Korean police official told AFP.
“He finally gave up and we arrested him on the spot for obstructing the exercise of an official activity,” he continued. “He is currently under interrogation at the Songpa District Police Station in Seoul.”
At 555 meters, the Lotte World Tower is the fifth tallest skyscraper in the world.
A specialist in bare-handed climbing, Alain Robert, better known as the “French Spiderman”, had also attempted the ascent of this tower without authorization. He had reached the 75th floor before being arrested and then imprisoned in 2018.
Local media, including the newspaper Chosun Ilboidentified the climber of this new attempt as George King-Thompson.
In 2021, the DailyMail reported that Mr Thompson had been jailed for attempting to scale the Shard, a 72-storey skyscraper in London.