A candidate who ranked first in South Korea’s certified tax accountancy examination has admitted to cheating by using a miniature camera, a mobile phone and artificial intelligence tools.
Han Won-seok confessed in a video posted on his lawyer Lee Don-ho’s YouTube channel, saying he had also reported the misconduct to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and provided details of his methods.
The 34‑year‑old earned a score of 397.5 out of 400 in the first round, missing just one of 160 questions. That near‑perfect result initially raised suspicions and sparked widespread online speculation.
Standardized national examinations are a decisive factor in South Korean career advancement, so their integrity – and the efforts to undermine it – draws considerable attention.
“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 released 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 carry out the cheating.”
When the allegations first surfaced, Han denied any wrongdoing. He later said he changed his mind after considering the feelings of the exam’s second‑place candidate.
He apologized to the other candidates who had passed the test fairly.
“Because of me, other successful candidates are being suspected,” he remarked.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour and the Human Resources Development Service convened an emergency meeting following Han’s confession.
President’s policy chief Ha Jun-kyung said new anti‑cheating measures would be introduced and warned that “past crimes” would be “tracked down and apprehended to the very end.”
The government announced that anyone caught using AI to cheat in the tax accountancy exam will have their qualification revoked and be barred from retaking the test for five years.
The controversy comes just days before South Korea’s annual college entrance exam, a pivotal milestone for students.
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