Korea sees first AI cheating admission by successful state exam candidate

The top scorer on South Korea’s state-administered tax accountant examination admitted Sunday to cheating with artificial intelligence-powered glasses, following a week of online scrutiny over his near-perfect performance.

“I cheated by taking photos of the questions with a micro-camera during the test. The images were sent to AI, and I could check the answers on my smartphone,” Han said in a video posted on his attorney’s YouTube channel. He added he has turned himself in to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The confession marks the first known case in which a person who successfully passed a state-administered examination has acknowledged using such equipment to cheat, amid growing concerns over the use of AI-powered devices during tests.

Police have launched an investigation following the confession, while scrutiny is spreading to other examinations after online commentators raised questions about a series of unprecedented results this year.

Han Won-seok last month achieved a near-perfect score on this year’s Certified Tax Accountant examination, for which around 10 percent of applicants passed, according to results announced Oct. 28. This raised suspicions as the score was unnaturally high compared to other applicants.

“I started preparing for the exam in my early 30s and felt desperate, worrying about how long it would take me to pass," Han said.

He added that financial difficulties added to his desperation, explaining that he had little savings and that a business he started after quitting his job had struggled with rising costs following the Russia-Ukraine war.

Test officials said this was the first known case in which someone who passed a state-administered examination had admitted to cheating with AI glasses.

An official from the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which administers state qualification exams for various government agencies, told The Korea Herald that no response protocol had yet been established for Han’s case.

“(In the case of the tax accountant examination), we need to consult with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Finance and the National Tax Service," an official from the HRD Korea said.

After Han reported himself, police assigned the case to a metropolitan investigation unit on Sunday.

The controversy surrounding Han has highlighted how difficult it can be to detect the use of AI glasses during an examination, particularly when the devices are not caught at the scene. Even securing evidence of such cheating can be challenging.

Online suspicion first emerged after Han shared his exam preparation experience with local media on Nov. 11.

The Certified Tax Accountant examination is known for its difficulty and candidates often say it takes years of full-time study to succeed.

Han scored nearly perfectly on the first-stage examination, answering only one of 160 questions incorrectly. He also answered every question correctly in the tax law section, in which the average score among all examinees was 30.18 out of 100.

Critics pointed to photographs of Han’s study materials that appeared to show little wear, as well as a misspelling in his handwritten notes on a key term. Han, however, argued that his results could be attributed to his study methods and good fortune, saying that “guessing correctly is also part of performance.”

Han was able to take the examination in front of a proctor without being detected. There was no CCTV footage from the examination room showing him wearing the suspected glasses. The HRD Korea said Friday that its review of his first-stage examination grading had found no irregularities.

Critics have also pointed out the difficulty of identifying AI glasses during tests.

The limitations of metal detectors in detecting such devices were highlighted during an Oct. 23 parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT. Four proctors who supervised Han’s examination also said they had not noticed that he was wearing specialized glasses.

Han explained his decision to confess ahead of a full-fledged police investigation, saying he regretted undermining the credibility of the examination and disappointing other candidates and people in the tax industry.

Scrutiny is now spreading to other professional qualification tests, as Han said he had also used the same equipment during the Certified Public Accountant examination.

Five others have already been caught using unauthorized equipment during state certification tests this year, and questions are being raised over a series of unusually high scores and short-term passes across other examinations this year.

One such case involves a candidate who achieved the first perfect score in the 19-year history of the Legal Education Eligibility Test. The candidate has said he will livestream his reading-comprehension skills using questions from the College Scholastic Ability Test, Korea’s nationwide university entrance examination, scheduled for Thursday.

Describing the issue as a serious threat to fairness in Korean society, politicians on Sunday called for stronger measures against cheating with AI-powered devices.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea called for a thorough police investigation and more active efforts to identify systemic loopholes in examination monitoring. The main opposition People Power Party criticized the government for failing to keep pace with technological advances in AI.

Responding to such concerns, Cheong Wa Dae said it was closely monitoring the case and considering possible measures for other examinations, including the CSAT.