A 34-year-old candidate who ranked first in South Korea’s certified tax accountancy examination has admitted that he cheated in both rounds of the test using a miniature camera, a smartphone and generative artificial intelligence, according to a confession published on the YouTube channel of his lawyer, Lee Don-Ho. Han Won-seok, who scored 397.5 out of 400 points in the first round by answering 159 of 160 questions correctly, said he had also confessed to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and provided details of the method, while the South Korean regime convened an emergency meeting to respond to a scandal that has intensified scrutiny of high-tech exam cheating days before the country’s annual college entrance examination.
Key Takeaways: Han Won-seok admitted using a microcamera to photograph test questions, sending them to AI and checking answers on his smartphone; he scored 397.5 out of 400 in the first round; the South Korean regime warned that those found to have used AI to cheat in the tax accountancy exam will lose their qualification and be barred from retaking it for five years; and police have assigned investigators after receiving his written confession through his lawyer.
The case has drawn attention because standardized national examinations play an outsized role in career trajectories in South Korea, where results can determine professional advancement and social standing. Han initially denied wrongdoing when accusations surfaced, but said he changed his mind after considering the feelings of the candidate who finished second. He apologized to other entrants who passed fairly and suggested that innocent successful candidates were being suspected because of him, while also stating that he cheated only to earn money and obtain a job that would make his parents proud again.
“I cheated in both the first and second rounds of the tax account exam by using electronic devices and generative AI,” Han said in the video published on Sunday. “I used a microcamera to photograph the test questions and sent them to an AI then checked my answers on my smartphone to commit the cheating.” The South Korean regime’s Ministry of Employment and Labour and the Human Resources Development Service held an emergency meeting after the confession, while Ha Jun-kyung, policy chief to the South Korean president, said new measures would be introduced to prevent cheating and warned that “past crimes” would be “tracked down and apprehended to the very end.”
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told Yonhap that it received a written confession through the test taker’s lawyer and assigned the case to investigators. The scandal has also revived broader concerns about AI-assisted cheating, including a recent series on Asia Specific highlighting cases involving AI glasses at South Korean universities and schools; last month, two college applicants were reported to have used AI glasses to try to cheat entrance exams at two Seoul universities, and education ministry data cited four such cases at middle and high schools over the past 12 months. With the annual college entrance exam approaching, authorities are expected to tighten exam security, while the investigation into Han’s confession and any related misconduct continues.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk