Police arrest British man free-climbing South Korean skyscraper
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.
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 Guardian reported.
Local media identified him as George King-Thompson, 24, from Oxford, known previously for carrying out dangerous stunts and publicizing them on social media.
“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.”
The 555-meter Lotte World Tower is the world’s sixth-tallest building.
He was said to be wearing just shorts, climbing shoes and carrying a small backpack.
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.