‘Shard Climber’ Arrested For Scaling South Korean Skyscraper

King, 24, was jailed for six months back in 2019 for free climbing famous London tower The Shard, a feat that earned him his instagram moniker. After serving just half of his sentence, he went on to climb the 36-storey Stratosphere tower in Stratford, east London, and was arrested in 2022 in Spain for BASE jumping off Europe’s tallest rollercoaster.

King is known for adrenaline-fuelled stunts such as train surfing, BASE jumping and climbing improbably large structures without any safety equipment. His exploits have taken him all over the world, and he documents his pursuits with palm sweat-inducing videos on social media. In 2022, he starred in a channel 4 docu-series entitled George King’s Illegal Activities, in which he consumed Kambo – a frog poison used in unregulated indigenous cleansing ceremonies – as well as trying out lift surfing and exploring abandoned underground mines.

King’s ascent isn’t the first time the Lotte World Tower has been climbed, back in 2018, Alain Robert, widely known as the ‘French Spiderman’, was jailed after reaching the 75th floor of the same building. King is reported to have told police that climbing the tower was ‘long-held dream’ of his.