On Monday, a British man was detained by the South Korean police in Seoul after he climbed 73 floors of the country’s tallest building using only his hands.
The man, identified as George King-Thompson, is known as a free climber. He had previously been imprisoned for three months for climbing London’s Shard in 2019.
When the man was spotted climbing Lotte World Tower on Monday morning, over 90 police, fire, and emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene. The Seoul fire department reported that he managed to reach the 73rd floor of the building without any equipment, but was eventually removed using a gondola lift.
According to local media, he was seen climbing the building with only climbing chalk at around 7:20 am local time. He continued his climbing attempt even after firefighters arrived at 8 am. Footage captured from inside a bedroom in the building showed the man scaling the structure.
