This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Police arrest British man free-climbing South Korean skyscraper
Police arrest British man free-climbing South Korean skyscraper
(about 5 hours later)
Man identified locally as George King-Thompson, who was previously jailed after free-climbing London’s Shard
Man in shorts made it to 73rd floor of 123-storey Lotte World Tower before being stopped
A British man, previously jailed after free-climbing the Shard in London, has reportedly been arrested in South Korea after attempting to climb the country’s tallest skyscraper without equipment, police said.
A British man attempted to scale the world’s fifth tallest building without ropes on Monday, until South Korean authorities forced him to abandon his climb more than halfway up the 123-storey Lotte World Tower in Seoul.
The man was scaling the 123-storey Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul early on Monday when staff spotted him, forcing him to stop his ascent as he reached the 73rd floor.
The 24-year-old man, wearing shorts, made his way up the landmark skyscraper for more than an hour as police and fire crews gathered below.
Local media identified him as George King-Thompson, 24, from Oxford, known previously for carrying out dangerous stunts and publicising them on social media.
He reached the 73rd floor where authorities forced him to get into a maintenance cradle and enter the building, a fire department official said, adding that police took him into custody for questioning.
“Lotte staff had to go on a gondola lift to persuade him to stop when he was still climbing above the building’s 70th floor,” an official from the National Police Agency said. “He finally gave in and we arrested him at the scene for obstruction of official business. He is currently being questioned at a police station in Seoul’s Songpa district.”
Police were not immediately available for comment.
The 555-metre (1,820ft) Lotte World Tower is the world’s sixth-tallest building.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper identified the man as George King-Thompson. British media reported he was arrested and jailed for climbing the Shard building in London in 2019.
He was said to be wearing just shorts, climbing shoes and carrying a small backpack.
In 2018 police arrested “French Spiderman” Alain Robert as he was more than halfway up the Lotte World Tower.
In a pre-drafted press release before the climb, King had said he hoped to “evade Korean authorities and get on a flight out of the country, immediately after performing the stunt”, the Times reported.
The former personal trainer made headlines when he was sentenced to six months in Pentonville prison for scaling the Shard in July 2019, and was released after serving half of his sentence.
Since his release he has scaled the 36-storey Stratosphere tower in Stratford, east London, and was reportedly arrested in 2022 in Spain for base-jumping off Europe’s tallest rollercoaster.
The Seoul fire agency said more than 90 emergency, police and other personnel were dispatched to the Lotte World Tower on Monday morning after he was spotted scaling the building.
The Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said police had arrested him on charges of trespassing. He reportedly entered South Korea three days ago, and was said to have told police it was a long-held dream to climb the Lotte Tower.
Alain Robert, widely known as the “French Spiderman”, was jailed in 2018 after climbing the same building without permission. He ascended to the 75th storey.
