South Korea’s top tax exam scorer admits using generative AI to cheat

The candidate announced as the top scorer on South Korea’s 63rd tax accountant exam said on Nov. 15 that he used electronic devices and generative AI to cheat in both rounds of the test. He apologized in a video posted on his lawyer Lee Don-ho’s YouTube channel and said he had submitted a written confession. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told reporters it received the statement through his lawyer that morning and assigned the case to its metropolitan investigation unit.

The Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which administers the exam, told Newsis it had convened an emergency meeting on Sunday. The agency said it would follow its procedures on measures such as canceling the result if it confirmed cheating. South Korea’s Certified Tax Accountant Act provides for stopping or invalidating the exam of a candidate found to have cheated, along with a five-year ban on sitting the exam from the date of that decision. The finance ministry is discussing whether to suspend the candidate’s pass certificate while authorities review the case.

What the candidate said and what police confirmed

The candidate also said he cheated in the first round of the separate certified public accountant exam. He acknowledged giving false accounts in an essay and media interviews and denying the cheating after suspicions arose. His lawyer said in the video description that the candidate would turn over remaining materials and devices. Police confirmed the tax exam investigation. The account about the other test comes from the candidate.

Questions about smart glasses surfaced after the candidate made his scores public. Yonhap reported on Sunday that the candidate described using a small camera in his account, which made no mention of smart glasses. Police have yet to report findings about what devices were used.

What the exam agency had checked

The agency’s published schedule put the multiple-choice first round on April 25 and the written second round on July 18. In a Nov. 13 statement, the agency said it had rechecked exam administration records and the machine-scored first-round answers. Separately, it had asked grading specialists to review the second-round written answers. The agency announced the second-round results on Oct. 28. The results notice says successful candidates can have their rank printed on an official certificate through Q-Net. The agency does not calculate subject-by-subject ranks or ranks for those who failed.

The agency said four proctors from the two rounds reported seeing nothing suspicious. The exam took place in a school classroom without CCTV, so the agency had no footage to review.

The agency added smart-glasses checks to proctor training for the second round. It plans to expand CCTV at national qualification exams and introduce radio-frequency detection equipment after field testing. It gave no timetable or locations for deployment.

A separate rule for the Nov. 19 college entrance exam

The Office for Government Policy Coordination said on Friday that each venue for the Nov. 19 College Scholastic Ability Test, known as the Suneung, would have staff assigned to assess suspected smart glasses. Their work is part of an Oct. 29 plan that links exam sites with response teams at the Education Ministry and regional education offices. The government also said it would review how national exams are administered following allegations about devices.

The Education Ministry says bringing smart glasses into the test and merely possessing them can invalidate that year’s Suneung. Wearing or using them during the test invalidates the result and bars the candidate from sitting the following year. The ministry says refusing a request to have glasses checked can lead to both penalties after a review. The ministry’s published guidance also says deliberate cheating can be referred for criminal investigation.

In the tax exam case, a finance ministry official told Newsis on Sunday that the government planned to seek a suspension of the candidate’s pass certificate through the National Tax Service’s qualifications committee. The ministry told Yonhap it would expedite the process given the admission. The official who spoke to Newsis gave no date for a final decision on whether to cancel the result. The government policy coordination office plans to hold a cross-agency meeting on Nov. 16 to discuss preventing cheating with smart devices.