A British man is caught at the 72nd floor of the Lotte World Tower located in Songpa-gu, Seoul after he tried to climb the 5th tallest building in the world. (Songpa Fire Station)
A British man on Monday was caught 72 floors above ground climbing Lotte World Tower in Seoul -- the fifth tallest building in the world -- without a rope.
Police identified the man as George King-Thompson, and arrested him on charges of trespassing and obstruction of business.
Songpa Fire Station received a report at 7:50 a.m. that a man, 23, was scaling the 123-story tower with his bare hands and climbing chalk.
The fire authorities dispatched 11 fire engines and 54 personnel. Fifteen police officers also attended to the scene.
King-Thompson was brought down an hour later when he was resting on the exterior wall of the 72nd floor of the 555-meter Lotte tower. Firefighters used a gondola to reach him.
The daredevil reportedly tried to keep climbing after firefighters arrived at the scene at 8:03 a.m.
A man is seen climbing the Lotte World Tower, a 555-meter skyscraper, in this video shot from inside the building. (Courtesy of reader)
The 23-year-old entered the country on Friday with the intention of parachuting off the Lotte Tower, said an official from Seoul Songpa Police Station. Climbing the skyscraper and parachuting off it has been a longtime dream of his, which he had planned for six months, police added.
King-Thompson has claimed to have climbed the Shard, a 72-story commercial building and the tallest building in Western Europe and the United Kingdom. On his Instagram, in which his handle is @shardclimber, he posts videos of him BASE jumping off buildings and running atop moving trains.
Other details of how the Briton accessed the building have not been released.
In 2018, French 'Spiderman' Alain Robert, a famous rock climber, was arrested by police for scaling the Lotte World Tower without permission.
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