A British man was arrested in South Korea on Monday after he attempted to climb the country’s tallest skyscraper — the fifth highest in the world — without equipment, police said.

The man was scaling the 123-storey Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul early Monday when staff spotted him, forcing him to stop his ascent as he reached the 73^rdfloor.

“Lotte staff had to go on a gondola lift to persuade him to stop when he was still climbing above the building’s 70^thfloor,” an official from the National Police Agency told AFP.

“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-metre (1,820-feet) Lotte World Tower is the world’s fifth tallest building.

Alain Robert, widely known as the “French Spider-Man”, was jailed in 2018 after climbing the same building without permission. He ascended to the 75^thstorey.

Local media, including the newspaper Chosun Ilbo, have identified the British man in custody as George King-Thompson.

The Daily Mail reported in 2021 that King-Thompson had been jailed for attempting to scale the Shard, a 72-storey skyscraper in London. (AFP)