Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—
A British man made it more than halfway up the exterior of the world’s fifth tallest building Monday before he was stopped and handed to police, according to South Korean authorities.
The man, in his twenties, was forced to abandon his free climb of the 123-floor Lotte World Tower in the South Korean capital Seoul, the Songpa Fire Station said in a press release.
He had reportedly scaled the outside of the skyscraper to the 72nd floor without any equipment before fire officers intervened.
The Songpa Fire Station said its force arrived on site at 7:56 a.m. local time and “rescued” the man by putting him into a maintenance cradle and pulling him into the building.
The man was identified as George King-Thompson, a well-known urban climber, Lotte Property & Development, the parent company of Lotte World Tower, told CNN over the phone.
He was spotted by a security officer who was working on the 42nd floor and called the police, Lotte said.
Police are investigating how he approached and climbed the tower, and the company said it will review whether to make structural or system changes so that unauthorized climbing from the ground is not possible, Lotte added.
King-Thompson was previously prosecuted and jailed for climbing the London skyscraper The Shard in 2019, according to UK court documents.
He also BASE-jumped off Europe’s tallest roller coaster in Spain in 2022, resulting in a suspended sentence, according to British media.
A verified Instagram account appearing to belong to King-Thompson features images and videos of those two stunts as well as multiple other hair-raising adventures.
A Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told CNN it was “aware of the arrest of a British national in South Korea on 12 June. We are in touch with local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance.”
At 555 meters tall (1,820 ft), the Lotte World Tower is the tallest tower in South Korea and fifth highest in the world, towering above the metropolis of 9.7 million people.
In 2018, police arrested “French Spiderman” Alain Robert as he was more than halfway up the skyscraper, according to Reuters.
