South Korea’s top scorer in this year’s national tax accountant qualification examination has admitted to using generative artificial intelligence to cheat, confirming suspicions surrounding his unusually high marks.
The scandal follows months of speculation after the candidate recorded near-perfect scores across hundreds of questions in two examinations held in April and July.
The incident has also heightened concerns among organisers of South Korea’s highly competitive annual college entrance examination scheduled for Thursday.
“I cheated using electronic devices and generative AI. My passing the exam with the top score was not the result of fair effort,” he said, in an apology posted on the YouTube channel, Attorney Lee Don-ho.
Han said he cheated by taking photos of the exam questions with a microcamera, sending them to an AI tool and checking the answers on a smartphone.
Speaking on camera wearing a face mask, Han added that he had submitted a written confession to Seoul police.
The scandal has sent shockwaves through South Korea, where standardised examinations play a significant role in determining social mobility and career prospects. It comes just four days before the country’s annual national college entrance examination scheduled for Thursday.
“The presidential office views the matter very seriously, and because the college entrance exam is next week, we have been working hard to prepare countermeasures,” a senior presidential office official told reporters on Sunday.
The official described reports of possible cheating in the certified public accountant examination as concerning, adding that the presidential chief of staff for policy would hold an emergency meeting later in the afternoon to discuss the matter.
Prime Minister Han Seok-sook on Friday also acknowledged growing public concerns about the use of AI to cheat in examinations ahead of the national college entrance test, a high-stakes assessment for which many South Korean students spend years preparing.
