A British man arrested while climbing the world’s fifth-tallest skyscraper in South Korea without a harness planned to parachute off the top then evade police and escape the country by plane. George King-Thompson was arrested in Seoul on Monday after climbing the 123-storey, 555-metre Lotte World Tower - an ascent he dreamt of while in prison for scaling the Shard skyscraper in London, according to a statement shared by his sponsor.
The 24-year-old, from Oxford, was wearing a parachute and planned to jump from the top of the building - but reached the 72nd floor before being detained.
After “years of dreaming” and “months of planning,” King-Thompson was then going to evade Korean authorities and catch a flight out of the country to escape arrest. “This is the most exhilarating stunt I’ve ever done,” he said in the statement shared by Riot E-liquid, the vape brand that sponsors him. “The climb is fraught with danger, and if I pull it off, I have to get out of the country asap to avoid arrest.”King-Thompson dreamed of performing the stunt while in Pentonville Prison for three months as punishment for scaling the Shard in July 2019. (DPA)
