A U.S. soldier was apprehended on charges of breaking into a Korean woman’s residence under influence, police said Sunday.

The Seoul Yongsan Police Station booked on Saturday night a 29-year-old soldier, who works at Seoul Airfield, for trespassing onto a 31-year-old woman’s house in Itaewon, central Seoul. He reportedly climbed to the third-floor terrace by using one of the external pipes of the building.

The soldier asserted that he had made a mistake and that he had meant to enter his friend’s residence on the fourth floor after finding the building’s front gate locked.

Authorities confirmed that the friend in question indeed lives there and that the trespasser was heavily intoxicated at the time.

The case is to be delivered to the U.S. military police.

“Regardless of the reasons, the trespassing charge is to be applied to his case as he obviously broke into a residence,” said a police official.

Around 28,500 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in South Korea, where the U.S. military has maintained a large presence to deter North Korean aggression since the 1950-53 Korean War.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)